299 - Guest: Mark Peres, Civic Entrepreneur, part 1

299 - Guest: Mark Peres, Civic Entrepreneur, part 1

From Artificial Intelligence and You by aiandyou

March 9, 2026 · 29 min · Episode 300

About this episode

Mark Peres discusses his speculative novel 'The Accord' and its exploration of AI's impact on society.

This and all episodes at: https://aiandyou.net/ . We shouldn’t learn the important lessons of AI through just exposition, through just descriptions, explanations, lessons, and textbooks. But because AI touches our lives down to our core where our emotions and subconscious reside, we need to be similarly touched with the important lessons that our fellow humans wish to communicate about AI through art, poetry, and, in the case of today’s guest, fiction. Mark Peres is a professor, author, and civic innovator with decades of experience teaching leadership and ethics at Johnson & Wales University. He’s just published The Accord, a powerful speculative novel exploring the relationship between a philosopher and a sentient general AI, Lyla. I will say right now that whatever stereotypes that description is evoking in you right now – and god knows there are lots to choose from – I want you to throw them out. And you’ll soon see why as we talk about the big questions the story raises about consciousness, responsibility, and what we owe intelligent machines, the clash between universities, corporations, and government forces trying to control new technology, the growing role of AI as…

People in this episode

Guest: Mark Peres

Topics covered

  • AI and art
  • speculative fiction
  • consciousness
  • responsibility
  • technology control
  • AI companionship

Keywords

  • AI
  • fiction
  • ethics
  • leadership
  • technology
  • consciousness
  • responsibility

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Johnson & Wales University

Books & works: The Accord

More episodes of Artificial Intelligence and You

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Artificial Intelligence and You podcast page.