Livestream: The Christmas Lectures from the Royal Institution: About the lectures

This year Professor Mike Wooldridge will be exploring the truth behind Artificial Intelligence (AI), the most rapidly evolving field of science. Prof Wooldridge was previously a lecturer at QMUL, teaching programming and AI, and he did research on Intelligent Agents.

*Royal Institution, Prof Michael Wooldridge in the Faraday Lecture Theatre – photo credit: Paul Wilkinson*

Bookmark this page for free tickets to the livestreaming events when they go live.

This event is perfect for all the family! Children and people of all ages can come and watch the magic of the Lectures unfold in real time as they’re filmed in front of an audience in the Ri’s Theatre in London. They’ll have the chance to get involved with hands-on activities, and be the first to learn the truth about AI.

Not since the World-Wide Web emerged 30 years ago has a new technology promised to change our world so fundamentally and so swiftly as AI does. Today’s AI tools such as ChatGPT and AlphaGo are just a hint of what is to come. The future of AI is going to be quite a journey, and the 2023 CHRISTMAS LECTURES to be broadcast on BBC Four and iPlayer in late December, will give us a guided tour.

AI has increasingly grabbed the headlines in recent years – generating excitement and concern in equal measure – but what should we believe? In these lectures Mike will reveal how AI works and how it will affect our lives – and will tackle head-on our hopes and fears for this most fascinating of fields.

*Royal Institution, Prof Michael Wooldridge high fives a blue robotic hand – photo credit: Paul Wilkinson*

Throughout the three Lectures, Mike will explore the big questions facing AI research and unravel the myths about how this ground-breaking technology really works. How can a machine be taught to play a game or translate from one language to another? He will show how computer programmes inspired by the human brain can be taught and even teach themselves. And he will tell the surprising story of how tools like the latest chatbots work and illustrate the mind-boggling scale of modern AI systems – that can be used in everything from gaming to movie-making to designing drugs.

Across the series Michael will be joined by some major figures from the AI world, including scientists from the world’s leading AI companies. He will also introduce a range of robot friends, who will demonstrate what robots today can do – and what they can’t. Perhaps he may even surprise the audience with some Deep Fake guests who are not quite what they seem.

Bookmark this page for free tickets to the livestreaming events when they go live.

About the lectures

Lecture one (Tuesday 12th December 2023)
In this Lecture Mike will demonstrate the contrast between how a machine learns and how a human learns, and explain how neural networks accelerated the growth of AI. But could machines ever match human intelligence?

Lecture two (Thursday 14th December 2023)
In the second Lecture Mike will reveal the huge role AI already plays in our daily lives – without us even realising. He will demonstrate how the computer games that we play in our spare time have become a training ground for AI. He will also reveal the huge impact AI has had in fields ranging from football to, controversially, our creative lives – in art, photography and music.

Lecture three (Saturday 16th December 2023)
In the final Lecture Mike will explore how AI should be treated as it gets more intelligent. He will explore where the technology is going – will we have machines that have the same status as us as intelligent/sentient entities?