Name: Could AI Undermine Standard Scientific Realism?
Start: 2026-02-11T14:15:00+01:00
End: 2026-02-11T15:30:00+01:00
Location: Georg Sverdrups Hus

Welcome to Vanessa Seifert's talk titled "Could AI Undermine Standard Scientific Realism?" for the Science Studies Colloquium Series.
Abstract:
Atoms and molecules have constituted a paradigmatic case in defending the reality of unobservable entities. However, the way AI models are developed to predict novel chemical substances and compounds undermines the idea that the predictive success of science empirically supports the truth of its theories. This is because there are at least some AI models whose predictive success is not based on incorporating or following an underlying theory. To spell this out, I present two AI models that are developed in order to predict chemical substances and identify two ways by which AI models are trained to make predictions. These two ways of training AI models illustrate that the predictive success of our models cannot always be accounted for by the truth of an underlying theory. This is particularly problematic for the defence of scientific realism in terms of the No Miracles Argument which takes novel predictions in science to be best explained by the truth of our underlying theories.
📍 Undervisningsrom 1, Georg Sverdrups hus
We are eager to see you there! Everyone is welcome.