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UA Ruhr Science Symposium – Artificial Intelligence and the Philosophy of Perception

Discussion on the role of subjective perspective and visual illusions for our understanding of the self and world.

On October 17, 2025, the UA Ruhr office hosted the UA Ruhr Science Symposium at the German Consulate General in New York. The lecture and panel discussion explored the intersection of artificial intelligence, perception, and philosophy, raising fundamental questions about the role of subjective experience in both human and machine understanding. Perception, as discussed, is not a passive recording of reality but an active, interpretive process shaped by knowledge, expectations, and biases. What we see is never merely what is “out there”, it is filtered through the mind and influenced by cultural and subjective frameworks. As AI systems increasingly “see” the world through computer vision, the symposium examined whether machines can truly perceive, and if so, whether they might one day develop a form of subjective perspective. The program featured: Susanna Schellenberg, Rutgers University who spoke on “Can an AI system have a subjective perspective?” Albert Newen, Ruhr University Bochum who highlighted “How do we perceive and understand the world and ourselves? Central features and constraints” The discussion was moderated by Martin Ihrig of New York University. Through this dialogue, participants reflected on the boundaries of perception, both human and artificial, and the philosophical implications of an increasingly intelligent technological world.

PHOTOs (c)Nathalie Schueller, UA Ruhr

Spanning from Human Perception (2020) to Reconstructed Nature of Memory (2024) and now to machine “Perceiving and Understanding in Humans and AI System” (2025), the UA Ruhr Science Symposium traces a compelling arc through philosophy and cognitive science. Guided throughout by Prof. Newen’s expertise, the series moves from the active mind’s interpretation of reality to the shaping of self through memory and finally to the challenges AI poses to our very understanding of what it means to perceive.