What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how can we harness its potential for good? This is the subject of our next webinar. You are very welcome to join us. It will be on 13th March between 12:00 and 13:30 GMT. You can see a one-page flyer and register for it here.
Why are we focusing on AI? Many believe AI can change our world: e.g. in ‘The Coming Wave: Technology, power, and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma’ (2023) Mustapha Suleyman, a co-founder of one of the world’s leading AI companies, makes the case that ‘we’re approaching a critical threshold for our species - everything is about to change’. On the one hand, AI is poised ‘to become the single greatest accelerant of progress in history’. On the other hand, ‘humanity faces potentially unprecedented harm linked to the containment problem.’
What is the containment problem? This can be defined as: ‘technology’s predisposition to diffuse widely in waves and to have emergent impacts that are impossible to predict or control, including negative and unforeseen consequences.’ Some, like Mustapha Suleyman, believe that safeguards need to be urgently put in place to monitor, curtail, control and potentially even close-down technologies.
So what? Now what? What do you think? Is this relevant in our day to day lives with our families, friends, colleagues and communities? Is it overblown hype? Does it take our attention away from existential global threats like climate change, biodiversity loss and the refugee crisis? Or can AI enable us to address such issues more effectively? Perhaps the answers lie somewhere in between the extremes that different commentators believe.
Our webinar will consider 3 core questions - we hope you will join us with a diverse group of our Caplor Community members to discuss these. What can AI do for you and/or your organisation? What safeguards should we create for ourselves? What wider implications will, or could, this have on society?
Who will lead the webinar? Deven Thakkar, our Web and IT Systems Advisor, will share his insights and there will be interactive demonstrations. A small group of us did this with Deven recently. We found it so compelling that we thought it would be useful to share and explore the matter with our wider community.
What else is new? We have recently overhauled the Caplor House section of our website. This includes a range of resources to deepen learning: e.g. about how the Caplor House can be linked to neuroscience.
Change Maker of the Week
Quote of the Week: : ‘Like all technologies before it, AI will reflect the values of its creators. So inclusivity matters – from who designs it to who sits on the company boards and which ethical perspectives are included.’ Kate Crawford (a leading scholar on the environmental and ethical implications of AI)
Best wishes
Ian, Rosie, Lorna and Kemal