A Citizen's Guide to Artificial Intelligence. A presentation given by John Zerilli and chaired by Jess Whittlestone.
About this Event
This presentation will set out what my new book, A Citizen’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence, hopes to achieve. Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly pervasive—and invasive—part of our everyday lives, affecting us at seemingly every turn, from our use of cloud computing, smart phones, and streaming services, to news consumption and even household appliances. Co-written with a team of experts, the book tries to get a handle on all the issues that AI and machine learning present to the average citizen: issues like privacy and data protection, transparency, liability, control, the future of work, and regulation of AI. The focus of my presentation will be one chapter in particular, discussing the nature of human control over AI systems. Science fiction has tended to focus on nightmarish scenarios where machines acquire superhuman abilities and wrest power from unsuspecting human beings. These scenarios distract attention from the real problem of human control—which is not that humans will unwittingly cede control to runaway superintelligence, but that they are already surrendering control to machines that are too stupid to handle the tasks they’re charged with.
Audience: All Ages.
This presentation was part of the new, interdisciplinary Cambridge Festival (replacing the Cambridge Science Festival and the Cambridge Festival of Ideas) which took place from 26 March to 4 April 2021. The festival was primarily digital in 2021 – to enable wide-reaching engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
