Artificial intelligence has now moved from science fiction to a practical reality, seemingly in the span of just a few years. Arguably, no previous technological shift has occurred so quickly or has been so opaque to the general public. As a result, many of us feel a confusing mix of hope, curiosity, concern, and overwhelm. This highly accessible tutorial by Kevin Leyton-Brown—a member of our congregation and an AI researcher at UBC—-aims to provide at least a bit more clarity, grounded in technical reality. It will begin by demystifying how AI actually works, describing both AI’s capabilities and limitations and its foundations in research over the past 70 years. We’ll then turn to what is currently understood about how AI is likely to impact our lives in the years to come, discussing jobs, impact on artists and other creators, the future of education, human relationships, military use, climate, and more. There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion throughout.
Bio: Kevin Leyton-Brown is a professor of Computer Science and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He holds a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He studies artificial intelligence and machine learning with a focus on connections both to microeconomic theory and to the design of algorithms for hard combinatorial problems. He is the Director of UBC’s Center for AI Decision-making and Action (http://caida.ubc.ca).
