Free public AI talk(s) @QMUL: Prof Shalom Lappin “Understanding the AI Revolution: Risks Imagined and Real” (new book)

A photographic rendering of a young black man standing in front of a cloudy blue sky, seen through a refractive glass grid and overlaid with a diagram of a neural network. — Image by Alan Warburton / © BBC / Better Images of AI / Quantified Human / Licenced by CC-BY 4.0

❇️ Understanding the AI Revolution: Risks Imagined and Real ❇️
G.O. Jones Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End

The free talks are aimed at a general audience of undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines, as well as computer scientists with a background in the field but highschool / college students would be welcome.

A series of three lectures will present the core ideas of Prof. Shalom Lappin’s forthcoming book, Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Neither Catastrophe nor Redemption (Polity Books, 2025). The book is aimed at a general readership interested in exploring both the basic engineering concepts of current AI systems and the broader social issues they raise. Whether you’re a computer scientist or someone intrigued by the social and economic impacts of the AI-driven technological revolution, this series offers insights that will be of interest to you.

About the lectures

Lecture 1

The Roots of the Deep Learning Transformation
Tuesday 15 October 2024 – 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
In this talk, Prof. Shalom Lappin provides a brief history of AI, tracing its origins from the immediate postwar period through the fluctuations in funding and support during the latter part of the past century, leading up to the current era of transformers and Large Language Models. He examines the diversity of methods and concepts that shaped earlier work in the field and tracks the factors that led to the dominance of deep neural networks across various applications and developments. Prof. Lappin will also illustrate the range of deep learning applications that are transforming the world in which we work and live.

Lecture 2

Dangers Imagined and Real
Tuesday 29 October 2024 – 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Prof. Shalom Lappin will consider some of the apocalyptic scenarios envisioned by various commentators as a consequence of the AI revolution. He will argue that these scenarios generally lack clear factual grounding in the actual capabilities of existing systems or those likely to emerge in the foreseeable future. However, he notes that current AI technology does create a variety of problems that pose acute dangers to our collective well-being. These issues are often underappreciated due to the focus on more dramatic but unlikely eventualities. Prof. Lappin will review methods that might be available or could be developed to address the real, as opposed to imagined, dangers of AI.

Lecture 3

Towards a Rational Public Policy on AI
Tuesday 12 November 2024 – 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Prof. Shalom Lappin discusses how current AI systems are primarily designed and supported by large tech companies. He addresses the recent debate on whether AI should be regulated to prevent harm and promote social benefit, which often focuses on how to regulate these companies. He explores various legislative regimes and regulatory mechanisms implemented in different countries, considering their motivations and effectiveness in achieving their stated objectives. Prof. Lappin emphasises that devising efficient methods to constrain tech companies for the public interest is a complex and challenging task. Successfully navigating this challenge is essential to our enjoying the benefits of AI technology while while mitigating its destructive effects. This constitutes a major challenge of the AI revolution.

About the Speaker

Shalom Lappin is a Professor of Natural Language Processing in the School of Electronic Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. He is also Emeritus Professor of Computational Linguistics in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London, and Scientific Researcher in the Centre for Linguistic Theory and Studies in Probability at University of Gothenburg. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Member of the Academia Europaea. His research focuses on the application of machine learning to the representation and acquisition of natural language.

Tickets

This is the main page for the series but you can also click on the link below to register (free) for a particular talk. Note that if you want to attend all three you’ll need to register for each separately.

Lecture 1 – The Roots of the Deep Learning Transformation: Tue 15 Oct 2024 – 6pm-7.30pm
Lecture 2 – Dangers Imagined and Real: Tue 29 Oct 2024 – 6pm-7.30pm
Lecture 3 – Towards a Rational Public Policy on AI: Tue 12 Nov 2024 – 6pm-7.30pm

Venue information

The G.O. Jones building is to the right of the large white Queen’s Building, on Mile End Road. The campus is slightly set back from the pavement. What3Words: https://what3words.com/jumps.invent.needed

CityMapper (free app or web-based) is great for planning a journey in London (and many other cities). The nearest tube stations are Stepney Green station (closest) and Mile End station. Whitechapel is a little further away, if you’re on the Elizabeth Line, but the 25 or 205 buses will bring you right to our door. The 309 and 339 stop nearby too. [Map of the area]