Cognitive Extinction: Are We Surrendering Our Cognitive Liberty to AI?

Professor Nita A. Farahany is a leading scholar on the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies. She is the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke Law School, the Founding Director of Duke Science & Society, the Faculty Chair of the Duke MA in Bioethics & Science Policy, and principal investigator of SLAP Lab. 

Farahany is a frequent commentator for national media and radio shows and a regular keynote speaker. She presents her work to diverse academic, legal, corporate, and public audiences including at Ted, the World Economic Forum, Aspen ideas Festival, and Judicial Conferences for US Court of Appeals, and at scientific venues including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Neuroscience, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. 

Farahany's current scholarship focuses on the implications of emerging neuroscience, genomics, and artificial intelligence for law and society; legal and bioethical issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic; FDA law and policy; and the use of science and technology in criminal law. In addition to publishing in legal and scientific journals, as well as edited book volumes, Farahany is the author of The Battle for Your Brain: Defending Your Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology (St. Martin’s Press 2023).

Her latest book, Cognitive Extinction: Saving Human Thought While We Still Can, is due to come out March 2027.  Her new work examines how digital life is eroding our thinking, our freedom, and what it means to be human—and how to reclaim what we've lost.