In the third episode of our podcast, Future Human: The Series, we look at the enormous potential of AI to do good in fields of everything from healthcare to climate mitigation, and we ask how we balance these possibilities with the associated risks.
In our new podcast series, the award-winning journalists at Silicon Republic chat to some of the leading minds about the future of everything. Hosted by Ann O’Dea, the latest episode asks how we mitigate the potential harms with the obvious benefits of AI, and in particular generative AI.
In case you missed it, our first episode featured a star-studded line-up of interviewees on the future of cybersecurity and zero trust, while episode two asked how we will travel sustainably. To subscribe to the series, just search ‘Future Human: The Series’ wherever you get your podcasts.
The latest episode on the future of AI features in-depth interviews by O’Dea and SiliconRepublic.com editor Jenny Darmody with AI practitioners, academics and authors about the future of AI – in particular generative AI – and how we benefit from its potential for good while mitigating the risks of harm.
Juliette Powell
Juliette Powell is an entrepreneur, technologist and strategist, who works at the intersection of culture, data science and ethics. She is author of ‘The AI Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology’. Her consulting services focus on global strategy and scenarios related to AI and data, banking, mobile, retail, social gaming and responsible technology.
She has delivered live commentary on Bloomberg, BNN, NBC, CNN, ABC and BBC and works with such organisations as YPO, Reuters, the United Nations, Warner Brothers, Cirque du Soleil, IBM and the World Bank Group.
She was a co-founder of the research network WeTheData with Intel Labs. Her newest title, ‘The AI Dilemma’, is based in part on her research conducted at Columbia University and through The Gathering Think Tank. Powell is a faculty member at New York University’s interactive telecommunications programme and the founding partner of Kleiner Powell International (KPI).
Dr Alessandro Curioni
Dr Alessandro Curioni is an IBM Fellow, vice-president of IBM Europe and Africa and director of the IBM Research Lab in Zurich, Switzerland. On top of being responsible for IBM corporate research in Europe, he leads global research in security and the future of computing.
Curioni is an internationally recognised leader in the area of high-performance computing and computational science, where his contributions have helped solve some of the most complex scientific and technological problems in healthcare, aerospace, consumer goods and electronics.
He was a member of the winning team recognised with the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize in 2013 and 2015. His research interests now include AI, big data and novel compute paradigms, such as neuromorphic and quantum computing. He is a member of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences.
Prof Virginia Dignum
Virginia Dignum is professor in responsible artificial intelligence and the director of the AI Policy Lab at Umea University in Sweden. She is a member of the UN high-level advisory body on AI and senior advisor to the Wallenberg Foundations. In recognition of her research, she was elected to the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) in 2020 and in 2018 was appointed fellow of the European Artificial Intelligence Association (EURAI).
Her research focuses on the complex interconnections and interdependencies between people, organisations and technology. She is a member the World Economic Forum Council on AI, and the high-level expert group on the implementation of the UNESCO AI ethics recommendation.
Previously she was member of European Commission high-level expert group on artificial intelligence and the IEEE global initiative on ethically aligned design of autonomous and intelligent systems.
In this episode, we’re focusing mostly on generative AI – the branch of AI used to generate content, anything from written content and images to music and film. One of its real strengths is its ability to summarise complex datasets into a coherent narrative, one of the reasons it is already being used extensively by researchers and academics. It is seen as having enormous potential to tackle some of our most pressing societal challenges.
AI technology is advancing so quickly, and it has enormous potential to do good in fields from healthcare to education to climate mitigation, but like with all technologies, we need to be mindful of the potential harms.
Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
