Biography

Alice Helliwell is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at Northeastern University London. Alice’s research is focussed on AI art and computational creativity. She is particularly interested in developing theories of machine creativity, the interaction between art and AI, and the aesthetics of AI images.

Alice holds an MA(Hons) in philosophy and psychology from the University of Edinburgh, and an MA in History and philosophy of art from the University of Kent, having received a Paris Scholarship to study in the University’s Paris School of Arts and Culture. Alice went on to gain her PhD from the University of Kent, receiving a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship. Alice’s PhD project, titled “Art-ificial: The Philosophy of AI Art” explored AI creativity and the capacity of AI systems to create art. She taught throughout her PhD and joined NU London (then New College of the Humanities) in 2021. Alice was Associate Director, then Interim Director of the Doctoral Research School at NU London from 2023-24. Alice is involved in several active research projects, including collaborative projects on the landscape of AI ethics, AI in the creative industries, and AI arts and the human body. In summer 2025, Alice will be a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität. Her project will research “The Praise Gap: AI Responsibility Beyond Accountability”.

Qualifications

PhD History and Philosophy of Art (University of Kent)

MA History and Philosophy of Art (University of Kent, Paris)

PGCert Occupational Psychology (Birkbeck, University of London)

MA(Hons) Philosophy and Psychology (University of Edinburgh)

Research

Alice Helliwell’s research focuses on philosophical issues with computational creativity and art made by and with Artificial Intelligence. Alice’s work spans several areas of philosophy, including philosophy of technology, philosophy of creativity, aesthetics, and applied ethics. Core questions her work addresses include ‘can AI be creative?’, ‘can generative AI create artworks?’, ‘who is responsible for AI art?’, and ‘is there a unique aesthetic to AI art?’. In addition to this work, Alice is interested more broadly in the ethics of AI, and the interaction between aesthetics and other branches of philosophy.

Publications

Creativity, Agency, and AI. (forthcoming). In Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence: The State of the Art. Synthese Library, Berlin: SpringerNature.

Aesthetic Value and the AI Alignment Problem. (2024). Philosophy & Technology, Springer.

Autonomy: A Family Resemblance Concept? Evidence from Robotics. (2024) Co-authored with Joshua Baker, Brian Ball, Emily Collins & Julie Marble. In Interdependent human-machine teams. The path to autonomy. Elsevier. (In Press)

AI and the Cluster Account of Art. (2024) In Wittgenstein and AI (Vol. II): Value and Governance. Anthem Press.

Wittgenstein and AI (Vol I): Mind and Language. (2024). Co-edited with Brian Ball and Alessandro Rossi, Anthem Press.

Wittgenstein and AI (Vol II): Value and Governance (2024). Co-edited with Brian Ball and Alessandro Rossi, Anthem Press.

Darwinian Creativity as a Model for Computational Creativity. (2022) Proceedings of the 7^th Computational Creativity Symposium at AISB 2020 (pp. 15-19).

Can AI Mind Be Extended? (2019) Evental Aesthetics, Vol. 8 (pp. 93-120).

Additional roles

Associate Editor, AI & Society (2024-present)

Trustee, British Society of Aesthetics (2024-present)

Teaching

Alice leads courses in AI and Data Ethics and Aesthetics at NU London. Alice has also led Introduction to Technology and Human Values and the Sustainability, Technology and the Future Summer School. Alice supervises dissertation projects on a variety of topics in AI and art, technology ethics, and aesthetics. Whilst Assistant Lecturer at the University of Kent (2018-2021), Alice taught topics in history and philosophy of art, including Introduction to Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art, Introduction to the History of Photography, and Fashion and Costume. Alice is a Fellowship of Advance HE (2024).

Contact

Alice Helliwell

alice.helliwell@nulondon.ac.uk