We are heading into a world where robots will be an increasingly important part of our lives. This won’t just have an impact on the future of work, but on the future of everything. What will it mean if robots are our toys, our pets, our friends and our partners? If robots can be everything from carers to warriors, what does this mean not just for human lives, but for the way we understand human intelligence, human values, and humanity itself? If we want technology to create a better future for people all over the world, what do we need to do right now to make sure that we can steer these extraordinary developments in the right direction and avoid a dystopian future?
Hear from a panel of experts including Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW; Ellen Broad, Head of Policy at the Open Data Institute; and Hae Won Park, research scientist in the Personal Robots Group at MIT Media Lab.
This is a Sydney Science Festival event, part of National Science Week, and co-presented with the Sydney Opera House.
Toby Walsh is a leading researcher in Artificial Intelligence. He was named by the Australian newspaper as a "rock star" of Australia's digital revolution. He is Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW, leads the Algorithmic Decision Theory group at Data61, Australia's Centre of Excellence for ICT Research, and is Guest Professor at TU Berlin.
He has written several books about Artifical Intelligence for a general audience and the latest 2062: The World that AI Made will be published later this year. He regularly appears in the media talking and writing about the impact of AI and robotics and is passionate that limits are placed on AI to ensure the public good. He has played a leading role at the UN and elsewhere on the campaign to ban lethal autonomous weapons (aka "killer robots").
Ellen Broad is an independent consultant and expert in data sharing, open data and AI ethics. She has worked in technology policy and implementation in global roles, including as head of policy for Open Data Institute and as manager of digital projects and policy for the International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions.
Hae Won Park is a research scientist in the Personal Robots Group at MIT Media Lab. Her work focuses on developing interactive social machines that deeply personalize to their users over a long-term interaction. While doing her PhD at Georgia Tech, she co-founded Zyrobotics, a company that provides inclusive mobile technologies to make learning accessible.
Paul Willis is the former Director of the Royal Institution of Australia, presenter on ABC TV's Catalyst program, palaeontologist and science communicator. Paul spent 14 years with the ABC as a dedicated science reporter where he travelled across the country and around the world for the science program Catalyst. While at the ABC he also became an accomplished radio producer and presenter and a skilled online content producer. Under his directorship, RiAus built and still runs Australia’s Science Channel, a 360 degree online science hub for Australia and the world. He’s been a museum curator in natural history and a live presenter of science to early-aged school children. Paul has authored several books on geology, palaeontology and natural history themes and his PhD looked at fossil crocodiles of Australia. Paul is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in Palaeontology at Flinders University.
After promising a rose garden in commercial and political communication, consumer choice, energy efficiency, car driving and medical research, artificial intelligence has reached the domain of law.
What can Australians do to make the world a better and fairer place?
Delivering this year's Gandhi Oration is Chief Advocate of World Vision Australia Tim Costello.
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Fiction creates new worlds for us to inhabit and understand, whether these are anchored in the past, the future or float freely in the imaginary.
Margaret Atwood’s rich body of work takes us into many different places but the dystopian futures she creates, where the problems we face now come to their logical conclusions, are some of her most compelling work.