Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani is Assistant Professor in Islamic Ethics at the University of Birmingham, where he has been based since 2021. He has held previous academic posts at the Al-Mahdi Institute, the University of Nottingham, the University of Oxford, and the Markfield Institute for Education. He completed his PhD at the University of Durham and his thesis was published as Moral Rationalism and Sharia (Routledge, 2015).

I found our conversation - which centred on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence - refreshing and illuminating. Aside from the opportunities and threats of current technological trends, we touched on the role of moral rationalism in the formation of law as well as the future of Muslim scholarship in the UK.

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Follow Ali-Reza: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-reza-bhojani-1b612272/

Check out Al-Mahdi Institute: https://www.almahdi.edu

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(0:00) Trailer

(0:45) Our previous meetings

(2:10) The vast range of AI issues

(7:02) How faith informs an ethical approach

(17:51) Should AI development stop?

(24:33) Where do we place value?

(33:40) Aiming for prosperity in this life

(42:08) The human cost of automation

(54:02) How LLMs can erode truth

(1:05:47) An example based on Ali's PhD

(1:09:15) Guidance for students

(1:11:30) How moral rationalism gets sidelined

(1:22:10) Being open to learning from others

(1:27:10) The nature and future of scholarship

(1:41:40) How people can support scholars