I began demystifying AI when I found myself attending a talk where the speaker, despite having no knowledge of computing, segued into a long speech about how it was only a matter of time that ChatGPT would turn into artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI with human-like consciousness and take over the world. Given my background, I knew that the speaker was talking nonsense but many others did not.
Starting with the Women’s Institute, I began giving light-hearted talks to present a balanced view of what AI can and cannot do. It is a useful tool but it certainly won’t be turning us humans all into batteries anytime soon.
With a PhD in human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence, I have been learning and teaching and, writing and researching the fascinating world of technology, working in both academia and industry since the 1990s. And, I’m delighted to be demystifying AI and technology in general with edutainment (education entertainment) accessible talks like the ones below.
Demystifying AI
In the news, we are constantly reading about how AI is going to self-evolve and take over the world, to which I say robots are welcome round my house anytime to take charge of the shopping, housework, and please can they can cook the dinner too? In this talk, I trace the recurring rise and fall of AI. From robots in Ancient Greece to present day ChatGPT whilst explaining exactly what AI can and can’t do.
When computers were women
The first computers were women and programming began as female clerical work – lowly paid and unrecognised – even though it was complex and completely new. The first computer was just a mass of blueprints and theory until the women figured it out, leaving the men to do the real work. In this talk, I trace the story 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 show how we couldn’t have evolved without the first computers.
You have filled in so much
Mary Evans
that I couldn’t understand.
Digital anthropology
In the 1970s, anthropologists at the University of California, Berkeley, began studying up, the process of applying the scientific study of behaviour, culture and society, or how Westerners behave. With the rise of the WWW in the 1990s, this has extended to our online life. From the the first anthropologists in the 1980s who studied how research scientists used the photocopier at Xerox Parc, to those undercover in the World of Warcraft, we explore the world of digital anthropology.
Bacon on ice-cream
When Macdonald’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 peek under the hood of chatbots and speech recognition to see why machine learning would ‘think’ that bacon is a good topping for ice-cream. And, why it couldn’t possibly improve without human intervention which is probably why Macdonald’s decided to cut out the middleman. It is invariably quicker and cheaper to get a human to behave like a robot, rather than the other way round.
My mind is spinning!
Helen Kestle
So much incredible
information!
Contact Ruth
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Last updated: 7/10/24