A Philosopher's case against AI

A Philosopher's case against AI

From Education Futures by Svenia Busson & Laurent Jolie

June 4, 2026 · 55 min · Season 1 · Episode 48

About this episode

Svenia Busson interviews Dr. Alex Carter about the philosophical implications of AI and its impact on creativity and education.

In this episode, Svenia Busson sits down with Dr. Alex Carter , Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, and Director of Creativity Research at the Centre for AI Interaction. Alex holds a PhD in philosophy from Essex — with roots in Wittgenstein and the philosophy of language — and has become one of the UK's most provocative thinkers at the intersection of philosophy, creativity, and AI. His central claim: AI is not creative in the same way we are. Not because it lacks power, but because "AI does not think like us, it thinks like we think we think", it is a mirror of human thought, not thought itself. In this conversation, we explore: 🔹 Why AI is fundamentally incapable of creativity — and the philosophical argument behind it 🔹 The "race to the middle" : as we outsource our thinking to AI, humans get slightly worse while AI appears slightly better, and we meet at mediocrity 🔹 Why education systems have been "teaching algorithmically" for decades — long before ChatGPT. AI didn't create the problem; it just made it impossible to ignore 🔹 Why AI should make problems for students, not solve them — and what "friction maxing" means for…

People in this episode

Host: Svenia Busson

Guest: Dr. Alex Carter

Topics covered

  • AI and creativity
  • philosophy of AI
  • education systems
  • human thought
  • learning friction
  • Gartner Hype Cycle
  • consciousness

Keywords

  • AI
  • creativity
  • philosophy
  • education
  • learning
  • Gartner Hype Cycle
  • consciousness

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam College, Centre for AI Interaction, Durham Commission on Creativity

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