Filippo Santoni de Sio
Profile
I am a full professor in the Philosophy and Ethics group.
I do research in ethics of technology, with a focus on the ethics and politics of AI development and use.
I just published the book Human Freedom in the Age of AI (Routledge, 2024); and the Research Handbook of Meaningful Human Control of AI Systems (Elgar, 2024) co-edited with five experts in philosophy, engineering, and law. I have co-authored numerous academic articles in journals for philosophy, law, neuroscience, AI and robotics, genetics, ergonomics, and transportation studies. I have worked in many interdisciplinary funded research projects on AI ethics in defence, transportation, and the workplace.
Central topics of my research are human freedom, responsibility, "meaningful human control" and democracy in relation to emerging technologies. I have also co-authored a book on the philosophy of football (La partita perfetta, UTET, 2008, in Italian). Based on my experience as an amateur stage performer (singer-songwriter, theater), I have recently started studying the politics of aasthetics, that is how (performing) arts may support a positive ethical and political engagement of students and other people.
I have been involved in important policy initiatives. I was the Rapporteur of the EU Commission Expert Group on the ethics of self-driving cars; I wrote a White Paper on the ethics of self-driving cars for the Dutch Ministry of Transportation; and I co-authored a 90-page ‘ethical evaluation schema’ for robots in security for the Swiss Ministry of Defence.
I am a passionate teacher. I have 12 years of experience in teaching ethics and philosophy to engineering students in Dutch technical universities (Delft and Eindhoven). I also taught philosophy and history in a high school in Italy for two nad a half years.
I love to engage in public discussions. I have given many invited public lectures and keynote talks in Europe, Argentina, Korea, and Japan. I have been featured in mainstream media outlets, including De Groene Amsterdammer, NOS.nl, NRC Weekend (NL), Fortune, Vox (US), MIT Tech Review (Korea), EOS (Belgium), and The New Scientist (UK). I have recorded a TED-talk-style lecture for the online platform Universiteit van Nederland.
Publications
For a complete list of my publications and talks please see my personal webpage.