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The Reith Lectures: What is AI and should we fear it?

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

What is AI and should we fear it?

01/12/2021 GMT

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Professor Stuart Russell discusses the successes and failures of AI, and potential risks

Professor Stuart Russell discusses the successes and failures of AI, the potential risks for the future and suggests a way forward based on a new model for AI.

In the first lecture, Stuart Russell, professor of Computer Science and founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley, reflects on the birth of AI, tracing our thinking about it back to Aristotle. He will outline the definition of AI, its successes and failures, and potential risks for the future. Why do we often fear the potential of AI? 

Referencing the representation of AI systems in film and popular culture, Russell will examine whether our fears are well founded. As professor Stephen Hawking said in 2014, “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.” Russell will ask how those risks arise and whether they can be avoided, allowing humanity and AI to coexist successfully.

The lectures examine what Russell argues is the most profound change in human history as the world becomes increasingly reliant on super-powerful AI. Examining the impact of AI on jobs, military conflict and human behaviour, Russell argues that our current approach to AI is wrong and that if we continue down this path, we will have less and less control over AI at the same time as it has an increasing impact on our lives. How can we ensure machines do the right thing? The lectures suggest a way forward based on a new model for AI, one based on machines that learn about and defer to human preferences.

The lectures are chaired by presenter, journalist and author, Anita Anand.

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