e audience, the questions came flooding in. One of my favourites was whether we should call AI, AI? Professor Pantic responded by acknowledging that AI is an umbrella, coving a range of different areas of research, including machine learning, network controlled systems, and many many more, you could use any name and the meaning wouldn’t change. The idea of ‘intelligence’ was also argued, can we call it artificial intelligence when the very meaning of intelligence is not wholly understood.
Another prominent question to me was whether AI would be the end of many jobs, a protuberant question to many. It was answered honestly by Faisal, ‘it is not about AI taking jobs, it is about using AI to off-load over worked people’, Pantic added ‘technology could extend our senses but cannot replace human skills’ we need to ‘move with AI and not against it’. Perhaps job recruitment will involve the willingness of people to work with AI and not without it, but I think we are all safe in our careers.
One of the closing comments from Professor Pantic neutralised a lot of worry associated with AI; ‘AI can only do as well as humans can do, we will not see the real-world terminator’.
Perhaps this discussion will have changed people’s opinion on or perceptions of AI. After the event The Biochemical Society decided to see what people thought about AI by hosting an opinions board. The enthusiasm and engagement was great to see.
Some of the comments from the activity hosted by The Biochemical Society. Thank you to the participating members of the public. Photo credit to James Brown and Tabitha Jenkins, The Biochemical Society.
Audience opinion remained mostly positive, perhaps expected at an AI themed event, but concerns remained, understandably, about the need for regulation and training. Perhaps this could be the topic of a future debate?
AI development needs to remain transparent for people to understand and remain behind the movement; without public understanding and support, AI will face a lot of resistance. One thing we can all agree on, the opportunities of AI are immense, and who knows where the next invention will take us. And to think, this all started with a simple algorithm…
You can watch the whole debate here.
This event was part of the 2018 Biology Week celebrations. You can catch up on many of the other great events taking place across the country here. Policy Lates on diversity and inclusion in STEM hosted by the Royal Society of Biology was also a great event during biology week, you can watch the event here.
I am a PhD student at the University of Nottingham studying helicases in DNA repair. I am currently working at the Biochemical Society with the public engagement and education department. I really enjoy talking about science (any and all science) with the public and would love to see changes in STEM education.