The Artificial Human

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Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong answer the questions we're all asking about AI.

Artificial intelligence is in our homes, phones, schools and workplaces... What does this even mean? Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong answer the questions we're all asking about AI.

Every day, we read something new about Artificial Intelligence  - it'll take our jobs, it'll teach our kids, it knows more about us than we do ourselves... but how much of that is hype, and how much is, or will be reality?
 
Part of our problem with AI is that it feels impenetrable and mysterious, especially when even those building it aren't entirely sure how it works.
 
In a new series, Aleks Krotoski (The Digital Human, Radio 4) and Kevin Fong (13 Minutes to the Moon, BBC World Service) set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions on all things artificial intelligence-related. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life or make me its slave?

These questions predate the current frenzy created by the likes of Chat GPT, BARD and LlaMA. They've been in our collective psyche ever since the very first thinking machines. Now these fears and excitement are a reality. This series arrives at a critical moment.

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The Artificial Human: Why can’t Ai drive me home yet?

Why can’t Ai drive me home yet?

BBC Radio 4 - The Artificial Human, Why can’t Ai drive me home yet?

Aleks and Kevin find out, why can’t AI drive me home yet?

Driverless cars have been promised for decades, so why can't AI drive us home yet? Aleks and Kevin investigate.

Developers have been trying to create driverless cars since the 1920s. Numerous iterations have come into being and fallen away over the years -  radio controlled cars, electronic guide systems buried into roads, lidar, radar, computer vision, but with the roll out of AI, we seem closer than ever to getting from A to B without having to touch the wheel.

In fact, in several places in the United States, Driverless Cars are already on the streets - albeit in a limited scope - ferrying users across the cities of Phoenix and San Francisco. And yet here in the UK? There are few autonomous vehicles in select locations, such as airports. But we’re unlikely to be hailing a cab without a driver in the near future? Why?

Aleks and Kevin are all set to find out. They’ll talk to Elaine Moore, who has been a frequent passenger in driverless cabs in San Francisco. Dr. Jack Stilgoe, leader of the Driverless Futures
Project, and engineer Paul Newman who is developing autonomous vehicle software here in the UK. They’ll learn about the practical, legal, ethical and technical needs that autonomous vehicles will need to meet in order to function, how the fabric of cities might need to change for them to operate, and just how soon driverless cars will be able to safely operate on UK streets.

If you want to ask to answer your burning question on AI, please get in touch at theartificialhuman@bbc.co.uk

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The Artificial Human

Why can’t Ai drive me home yet?

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