Fears and Dreams of Intelligent Machines
Event Information
Description
Fourth in a series of public discussion, the event will cover issues around developing intelligent machines and their future implications.
About the event
Since ancient times our imagination has been captivated by the stories of automata and intelligent machines: stories of Golem or Hephaestus’s golden servants were followed in modern times by sci-fi literature and films. Can we create them? Can they surpass us?
Artificial system are now present in our everyday lives, but many questions about their further development remain the same as before: how may non-human intelligences differ from us, and what are the social changes that may come about as AI systems are developed and deployed? If you're interested in the sci-fi, cyborgs and singularities or the realities of machine learning and how they will inform politics and social change in the coming years then our event will be of interest to you.
We have invited speakers from a range of disciplines: machine learning, humanities, philosophy and cognitive science to discuss the dreams and fears we have for the creation of AI from the popular imagination as well as the reality of what AI and Machine Learning currently is and the prospects for the future.
At the event we hope to discuss whether machines can reach a level of intelligence greater than human and if so - how; whether advanced ML systems follow the same values as us and how to align them with our own aims and the aims of the society; and last but not least what the prospects for humanity in the face of accelerating technological growth are.
Come and join the discussion.
This event is co-organised by EdIntelligence (Machine Learning Society), School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Panel
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Dr Mark Sprevak: Is a Senior Lecturer on the Philosophy of Mind & Cognition in PPLS researching computational theories of mind; the ethics of AI; and embodied, extended and distributed cognition. He also teaches the Ethics of AI course in the School.
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Dr Kanta Dihal: Is a lead for the Global AI Narratives project studying how fictional and non-fictional stories shape the development and public understanding of artificial intelligence, and co-editor of the upcoming book AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking About Intelligent Machines.
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Prof Amos Storkey: A Professor in the School of Informatics researching a wide range of mathematically orientated research areas with AI and machine learning including bayesian methods, graphical models, undertanding deep learning, reinforcement learning and meta-learning, and applied areas including music generation and bioinformatics.
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Dr Robin Hill: A cognitive scientist both in Informatics researching primarily understanding the cognitive aspects of information processing for HCI, and lab manager for the Neuropolitics group who are using cognitive science and data science methods to shed new light on political attitudes, identities and decision-behaviours.
The event will be followed by a drinks reception/social.
NB This event might be streamed live, recorded and/or photographed.
Organiser School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
Organiser of Fears and Dreams of Intelligent Machines
Edinburgh’s School of Informatics is the largest academic centre of its kind in Europe and the UK’s most successful informatics research institution. We have consistently been a leader in the field since the 1960s, when our first Professor of Computer Science was appointed and the Department of Artificial Intelligence was founded. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 ranked us first in the UK for computer science and informatics. We produce more world leading and internationally excellent research in this field than any other UK university. We're also ranked 14th for Computer Science in the THES Rankings by Subject 2018. Our size and strength support unparalleled breadth in our taught courses, which are consistently ranked excellent in external assessments.
Our students rate us highly too. Members of staff are proud to have received EUSA Teaching Awards on the basis of student nominations and votes. We provide outstanding facilities. Computer laboratories are available to all Informatics students 24 hours a day. Our city centre premises include both teaching and research centres.
We lead the way in an exciting discipline that is central to a new enlightenment in scholarship and learning. Informatics is critical to the development of science, technology, culture and society. Our academics include Fellows of the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Engineering. We boast recent winners of the most prestigious awards in the field, including the Herbrand Award, the Blaise Pascal Medal and the Yangtze River Scholar award.
Graduates from our programmes enjoy career success in a wide array of roles that shape our society, from developing the latest mobile technology to creating intelligent infrastructure. Many go on to work as project managers, researchers, software developers and consultants in the commercial sector (at firms such as Google, Amazon, Skyscanner or Adobe) or take up academic posts, often in Russell Group and US research universities such as MIT and Stanford. Some of our graduates have found success through start-up companies.
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