Posted by These talks pull back the curtain on our digital world, tracking where we have been and where we are heading. From the hidden history of the women who laid the foundations of computing, to an accessible exploration that demystifies today’s AI hype by explaining exactly what the technology can and cannot do. Followed by AI at the drive-thru. These sessions are designed to inform and entertain.
Together, they bridge the gap between complex technology and everyday human experience.
Demystifying AI
In the news, we are constantly reading about how AI is evolving beyond our control to take over the world. Personally, I’d happily welcome robots into my home, if only they could take care of the shopping, housework, and cooking!
In this talk, we will trace the recurring rise and fall – and excitement and fear – of AI with its spooky stories of the ghost in the machine. From robots in Ancient Greece to present-day generative AI such as ChatGPT, we look at how and why AI has developed over time, and exactly what it can and cannot do.
Read more: The ghosts of AI and Chit chat chitty-chitty chit chat chatgpt.
Such an interesting and engaging talk on AI. So knowledgeable, I could have listened for hours. So glad I heard it was on.
Cass
When computers were women
The first computers were women, low-paid and unrecognised. But thanks to them, the first computer was coded up, a man walked on the moon, and computers learnt to understand English. So why were their contributions written out of history? In this talk, we trace the story of computers from 1731, when the Edinburgh Weekly Journal advised young married women to know their husband’s income and be a good computer and keep within it, until present day to see how this man’s world would have never progressed without the women which gave it its name.
Read more: Fighting, typing and computing and When women were computers.
Bacon on ice-cream
When McDonald’s withdrew its AI from the drive-thru after it kept putting bacon on ice-cream, most people were left baffled. In this talk, we take a look at speech recognition and natural language processing using machine learning to see why the rogue AI would ‘think’ that bacon is a good topping for ice-cream. And, why it couldn’t possibly improve without human intervention (artificial AI). It is invariably quicker and cheaper to get a human to behave like a robot, rather than the other way round.
Read more: Bacon on Ice-cream and Duolingo Dutch.
You have filled in so much
Mary
that I couldn’t understand.
Last updated: 14th June 2026
[ AI at the Movies, Human-Computer Interaction, Digital Anthropology, Digital Journalism ]