Library Talk: Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Leon Brenner and Dr. Isabel Millar on Artificial Intelligence and Psychoanalysis
In her book, Dr. Millar examines the crucial role of psychoanalysis in understanding what artificial intelligence (AI) means for us as speaking, sexed beings. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and recent clinical developments, she explores the notion of the Sexbot as a figure who exists on the boundary of psychoanalysis and AI. Through this figure and the medium of film, Dr. Millar explores the forthcoming advent of the “singularity” in terms of sexuality and sexuation, the future of sexual reproduction and new forms of enjoyment enabled by AI.

This gives us the opportunity to start a discussion in campus on AI and Psychoanalysis. In this discussion, Dr. Leon Brenner and Dr. Isabel Millar will examine the subject of AI, exploring the many facets of the psychoanalytic understanding of human sexuality through an intersubjective perspective. Debating major sections from her book, Dr. Millar and Dr. Brenner will try to address this fascinating topic and also open up the discussion for questions from participants in the audience.



The discussion will take place on Zoom on 13 February at 8 pm. Please register using the form below. You will receive the zoom link afterwards.



Students and lecturers of the IPU are invited to participate and can also submit questions in advance: leon(at)leonbrenner.com. Other interested guests are welcome to join as well.

Dr. Isabel Millar is a philosopher and psychoanalytic theorist. She received her PhD from Kingston University in 2020.  Her thesis The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence is forthcoming as a monograph with the Palgrave Lacan Series in Spring 2021. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Critical Thought, University of Kent. Her essays have been published in Psychoanalytische Perspectieven, Vestigia Journal, JCFAR Journal, Stillpoint Magazine, the Courtauld Institute of Art Online, Routledge, Precog Magazine and the Palgrave Lacan Series.

Dr. Leon S. Brenner is a lecturer at the International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin. He is a member of the APPI, LOB, and a founder of Lacanian Affinities Berlin (laLAB) and Unconscious Berlin. His latest book on the subject of the psychoanalysis of autism is called The Autistic Subject: On the Threshold of Language, where he presents a novel account of autistic subjectivity from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective.

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