The next meeting of the Science Group will take place in the Victoria Hall at 8pm on Thursday, 28 November when the speaker will be Professor Neil Lawrence, Deep Mind Professor of Machine Learning at Cambridge and Senior AI Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute.
In the nineties, Neil studied Mechanical Engineering at Southampton before working as a field engineer on North Sea oil rigs and then taking a doctorate at Cambridge’s Computer Lab. Subsequently, he spent some years as Director of Machine Learning at Amazon.
Neil’s work has given him a unique perspective on the practical challenges of implementing AI in large-scale industrial systems. His broad understanding ranges from the cutting edge of AI research to its application in developing nations
For all we know, humans are unique when considered in a machine context. Some of our science perspectives though may have undermined our understanding of this uniqueness. Fortunately, the possibility of new forms of automated decision-making, commonly referred to as “artificial intelligence” also gives us a “place to stand”, allowing us to muse and reflect on who we are and what makes us special. The talk will be partly based on Neil’s book “The Atomic Human”, a limited number of heavily discounted copies of which will be available for purchase.
Perhaps few people are as well placed to explain the possible impact of AI in diverse areas of the modern world.