I began demystifying AI after I found myself attending a talk where the speaker, despite having no knowledge of computing, segued into a convincing speech about how ChatGPT would soon start producing robots to take over the world. Given my background, I knew that this is just not possible. However, other audience members did not. So now, I give light-hearted, accessible talks to various organisations presenting a fact-based view of what AI and other technologies can and cannot actually do.
Below are some outlines of talks.
Dates and times of upcoming talks are on the Now page.
Ghosts of 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, we trace the recurring rise and fall of AI with its spooky stories of the ghost in the machine. From robots in Ancient Greece to present day ChatGPT, we look at how and why AI was created and exactly what it can and cannot do. Read more: The ghosts of AI and Chit chat chitty-chitty chit chat chatgpt.
You have filled in so much
Mary Evans
that I couldn’t understand.
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.
Digital anthropology
In the 1970s, anthropologists at the University of California, Berkeley, began studying up, applying anthropology – the scientific study of behaviour, culture and society – to how Westerners behave. With the rise of the WWW in the 1990s this has extended to our digital life and beyond. From the first office anthropologists, via social animals on social media and undercover anthropologists in the World of Warcraft, to artificial intimacy with chatbots and post-human aspirations, we consider what it means to be human in a digital world. Read more: Eat, pray, artificial love and Ruth Stalker-Fascinating.
My mind is spinning!
Helen Kestle
So much incredible
information!
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 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.
Contact Ruth
If you’d like to discuss the possibility of me giving a talk at your organisation, I’d be delighted to hear from you.
Contact me using the form below:
Last updated: 31st January 2025