Selected from 138 entries from across the UK by an expert panel from the university, Genevieve (Sixth Form, PP) and Lillie’s (Sixth Form, LL) essays delved deep into the complexities and impact of modern technological advances in the development of humanity.

For her essay, theology and philosophy student Genevieve opted to respond to a question on human happiness, and if creating a whole new – and happy – human race would make the world a better place.

Defining ‘a better place’ as a world more conducive to the expansion of humanity’s productive potential, and which increases aggregate utility in accordance with morality, she explained that “based on these principles, I rejected the idea of creating new people to make the world a better place for three main reasons – it endorses dangerous ideologies that decrease utility for existing people, places a disproportionate emphasis on non-existent over existent beings, and there are fundamental flaws in theories that promote an increase in population.”

The judges described the submission as an “excellent essay”, adding “you certainly have a view of your own and you give good reasons to support it.”

Lillie answered the concise question, ‘Can an AI system think?’, focusing on the inevitability of the line being blurred between human and artificial intelligence, with the emergence of powerful AI models that demonstrate capabilities beyond the proficiency of human beings, and how this, in turn, can make it difficult to define ‘thinking’ and ‘non-thinking’. She explained that within her essay she “evaluated machine cognition by deconstructing the debate into three sub-questions: Does an AI “experience” inputs like how humans experience stimuli?; What do we not understand about how AI manipulates ideas, and does it even matter?; and how may an AI generate ideas differently, compared to humans and other living organisms?”

The judges cited: “This is a very good essay on an interesting topic. It is clear that you have researched widely on the topic and this is a credit to your essay. Very good work.”

On her success, Genevieve said: “I found the experience incredibly rewarding as I managed to expand my knowledge and think about certain ideas in unconventional angles. I’m also really glad that all my hard work paid off.”

Lillie added: “I am very grateful for the chance to write about an imminent issue today. Learning about various perspectives in the field and finally putting together an argument was astonishingly enjoyable, and the research really helped me to appreciate the intricate depths of my own conscious experience.”

Hosted by the University of Sheffield’s philosophy department, the annual Philosophy Essay Competition invites pupils in Years 10-12 to submit original essays on one of six given topics.