Will the Robots Win?

If we are to believe the popular press, developments in Artificial Intelligence are rapidly leading us into a world where robots decide when to pull the trigger and mass unemployment threatens as smart algorithms take over. Is the situation as apocalyptic as the press often make it out to be?

To get anywhere near such a scenario requires robotic machines to have the ability to learn and make predictions about the world. This is the subfield of AI known as machine learning.

In this fascinating talk computer expert Dirk Gorissen aims to demystify the topic of machine learning, tell us where the state-of-the-art is and what societal questions it raises.

Dirk Gorissen has a background in Computer Science and AI and has worked in academic and commercial research labs across Europe and the US. His interests span machine learning, robotics, and computational engineering as well as their application into the humanitarian and development areas. He has been a regular consultant for the World Bank in Tanzania and closely involved with a number of drone-related startups. He is currently a senior engineer at Oxbotica where he works on self-driving vehicles. He is also an active STEM Ambassador, and organiser of the London Big-O Algorithms & Machine Learning meetups.

Doors 10.30. Entry £3, £2 concs./free to Conway Hall Ethical Society members.

Tea, coffee & biscuits will be available.