Video games were the gateway for Declan Humphreys growing up.
These were in the days of dial-up internet - in the 1990s, when being online meant no one could use the landline.
You had to really want it, organising with a mate to be online at the same time, and making sure no one else in the house needed to make a phone call.
These are Declan's earliest memories of interacting with technology - a field that has since absorbed much of his thinking, prompting him to explore the philosophical questions that have shaped its evolution.
Declan has been involved in radio since he was a teenager
Radio also appealed. Growing up in the rural NSW town of Armidale, Declan started volunteering at the local radio station as a teenager, where he was given his own program to blast punk songs across the airwaves.
The experience would come in handy when he moved across the world to live in Dublin, where he studied radio production, becoming increasingly interested in media - an industry he started working in after he found a job on a women's daytime talk show.
Then the Global Financial Crisis hit.
Job losses swept through countries as banks and financial institutions crumbled.
In Ireland, there were about 335,000 total job losses - including Declan's. He decided to head home to Australia.
"There were very limited opportunities around at that time," Declan says.
"I started reading philosophy quite a lot, just out of interest, so decided to study it through a master's once I got home."
Declan's love of video games and philosophy soon collided, leading to a PhD investigating the joy experienced from playing on the consoles.
In this case, he looked at whether it was a false pleasure - a term based on a theory that pleasure from playing on a console was a type of bad pleasure.
It's a philosophical theory that can be traced back to Plato.
"If you say playing video games is a waste of time, there's a judgment that there is a good way to enjoy yourself and a bad way to enjoy yourself," Declan says.
"So if it's not a real kind of pleasure - like a good pleasure - it must be a false pleasure."
After he completed his PhD, a job opportunity came up for Declan's partner in Norway. The pair moved, living there for four years.
But another global tragedy unfolded - the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
With a young daughter by that time, Declan and his partner decided to move back to Australia, landing on the Sunshine Coast, where Declan got a job with MindSET-do - a widening participation program developed by UniSC to increase participation in STEM.
When an opening came up to start teaching ethics in cyber security with UniSC, Declan leapt at the chance, going on to develop the course to encompass state surveillance, spyware, malware and hacking.
"A lot of people in technology are used to dealing in ones and zeros. The grey areas of ethics aren't something they encounter a lot so giving them the space to explore that is really rewarding," Declan says.
"A lot of students come in unsure - especially if they've never studied ethics or philosophy. But within a few weeks you can see it start to click - why it matters, why we're doing it, how relevant it is."
"By the end of the course, the feedback is really positive."
Declan and other the other Top 5 residents with Triple J Hack host, Dave Marchese
By the time ChatGPT was about to be launched publicly, Declan was across what was happening in the artificial intelligence space. He saw the changes - and the potential for future change.
That became his North Star, pitching for the university to start teaching ethics in AI.
"AI does have its place - it can be very good at simplifying tasks," Declan says.
"But when it starts replacing human thought - especially in areas grounded in human values, like ethics - that's where concerns emerge.
"There's a risk of outsourcing our thinking."
Declan also notes how much AI gets wrong, often hallucinating incorrect answers when it's unable to source correct information.
"The effort required to check and correct that output often creates a different kind of work altogether.
"With the volume of AI-generated content online, it's becoming harder to know what's true and what isn't."
Declan in the ABC studios with the other Top 5 residents
Declan's work in this space has earned him recognition, becoming a reliable commentator who can offer expert analysis or insights on topics relating to AI, ethics and tech in general.
Last year, Declan's skills in this space were bolstered when he earned a spot on ABC Radio National's Top 5 Media Residency Program, specifically designed for select, early-career researchers to refine their media literacy and communication skills.
He was one of five academics from the humanities field chosen to participate in the program from across Australia.
Now he's back home, Declan is turning his attention back to teaching and research.
"My research spans both AI ethics and cyber security - looking at ransomware, data breaches and corporate responsibility," he says.
"I'm particularly interested in whether individuals should have stronger, more informed consent around the risks of data breaches - and what accountability should look like in an AI-driven environment."
With all this in mind, it's easy to wonder whether Declan has a position when it comes to whether AI and tech is good or bad.
But he's neither - neither evangelist, nor pessimist. He's agnostic.
"I'm the annoying fence-sitter," he smiles. "The philosopher."
