It’s the premise of every second sci-fi film: in a dystopian future, simple organic beings struggle with the existential crisis of defining and controlling the innate human qualities and supposed sentience of their artificial creations. I think, therefore I am. This concept and the potential societal impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) will be the topics under the microscope at the Sydney Opera House this August.
The panel for Good Robot / Bad Robot will throw technology into the limelight, asking how AI will alter employment, relationships, international aid and conflict, and how we understand human morality and intelligence itself. Professor Toby Walsh will share insights from his involvement in numerous research agencies and his newest publication 2062: The World that AI Made. He’ll be joined by data consultant and AI expert Ellen Broad who ran the Australian Digital Alliance, alongside Hae Won Park whose work at MIT’s Personal Robots Group focuses on developing social machines that become attuned to their users over time.
This afternoon of investigation will be presented by Sydney Opera House and UNSW’s Centre for Ideas who are running the program for National Science Week.
