Virginia Dignum releases new book: “We need a more mature conversation about AI”

Virginia Dignum is Professor of Responsible AI at Umeå University and the author of the book The AI Paradox.

ImageMattias Pettersson

Virginia Dignum is one of the world’s leading researchers in responsible AI and a prominent voice in international discussions on how artificial intelligence affects society, including interviews in The Guardian.

She has worked in AI since the 1980s, when the field was still relatively small. Today, she notes, AI shapes everything from education and healthcare to government, warfare and everyday life.

In the public debate, AI is often framed either as a solution to almost any problem or as an uncontrollable threat. According to Virginia Dignum both narratives are misleading.

The real question is not what AI will do to us, but what we choose to do with it

“I wrote The AI Paradox because we urgently need a more mature conversation. AI is not inevitable. It is a choice, a human-made system embedded in society. The real question is not what AI will do to us, but what we choose to do with it,” she says.

AI is never neutral

The biggest misunderstanding about AI, Dignum argues, is that AI is either autonomous magic or pure objectivity.

“Many people assume AI systems are neutral because they are computational. But AI reflects human choices: what data is collected, whose interests are prioritised, which objectives are optimised and which trade‑offs are accepted. There is nothing neutral about those decisions.”

While AI systems are already outperforming humans in specific tasks, Dignum stresses that this should not be confused with human intelligence as a whole.

“AI can replace tasks. It cannot replace being human. Machines can analyse images faster than radiologists in certain contexts. They can draft texts and optimise logistics. But humans integrate social understanding, ethical judgement, creativity, responsibility and lived experience in ways that are deeply interconnected.”

Depth become scarce

Writing a book about AI at a time when AI can generate text quickly is a paradox that Virginia Dignum has deliberately made part of the point.

“In many ways, the rise of generative AI makes human authorship more important, not less. When text becomes abundant, depth becomes scarce – and therefore valuable.”

According to Virginia Dignum, universities have a particular responsibility in the development of AI. It goes beyond producing better algorithms or training AI engineers.

“Universities should go back to what we are supposed to be: spaces for critical thinking, places where we learn not just what to think, but how to think. If universities become mere transmission belts for skills and innovation pipelines, they will fail in their democratic function. Their true role is to cultivate judgment, responsibility, and intellectual courage – qualities that are indispensable in an AI-driven society.”

The future of AI – a collective responsibility

The AI Paradox was published on 17 February and has been discussed internationally, including coverage in the prestigious magazine The Atlantic. In Umeå, the book is available at Bildmuseet, where Virginia Dignum will give a public talk on 26 April followed by a book signing.

Her wish is that people, after reading the book, will feel agency rather than unquestioned optimism or paralysing fear.

“I want them to see that AI is not an unstoppable external force. It is shaped by incentives, regulation, power structures and public choices. That means it can be shaped differently. The future of AI is not written in code alone. It is written in governance, participation and collective responsibility. We decide it. Together,” says Virginia Dignum.

Guest Tour at Bildmuseet 26 April: The Paradox of AI with Virginia Dignum