Following up on previous guest lectures Dr Roberto Desimone has given at the University of Bath (within IDSB and Computer Science) on emerging technologies over the past few years, his next lecture covers issues that have been prominent in the media (press/social) over the last few months, specifically the 'Challenges of exploiting AI and the Quantum Future'. How much is hype, and how concerned should we be?
This guest lecture, however, discusses the challenges in exploiting AI for the benefit of society (mitigating concerns, dangers, harms) and what should be done now to do the same for emerging quantum technologies (computing, sensing, communications). It is not aimed at deep experts, but instead emphasises key challenges in exploiting these technologies, rather than delving deeply into the technologies themselves.
Following a brief history of AI, Dr Roberto Desimone will address current misconceptions and limitations about commercially available AI technology (e.g. training costs, energy consumption, data ownership, algorithm bias), as well as the great benefits it can provide across many market sectors. Dr Roberto Desimone will discuss the impact AI can have on jobs (positive/negative) and the role that governments need to play in promoting/regulating wider integration and deployment across government and industry. Dr Roberto Desimone will discuss current approaches to ethical governance in the UK and elsewhere, and my thoughts on what needs to be done to mitigate harmful impacts on society.
Dr Roberto Desimone will also present a few use cases that show how semantic AI techniques can enhance existing commercial approaches (LLMs and neural networks) to address more complex applications in the future. These hybrid AI techniques could provide more transparency, auditability and explainability that would increase the level of trust in the deployment of AI solutions. Finally, I'll finish with what quantum computing is (what it can and cannot do), highlighting emerging applications and the key challenges in exploiting this (potentially) disruptive technology, which could effectively put 'AI on steroids'
This is aimed at both students and academic staff (at all career stages) at the University of Bath. It is also open to external visitors (especially Bath alumni or others working in Bath with interests in AI/Quantum tech) but with preference for University attendees.
It will take place on Wednesday 14th October in Chancellor Building (CB1.11) starting at 13:15 with a 50 min presentation, followed by 10-25min Q&A. An additional 30 minutes is available for further discussion in the lecture theatre after the main session.
