Artificial Intelligence, my implausible reality (or how I learned to love my robot overload)

by Gregory P. Bufithis, founder and CEO of GB MEDIA

In 1915 the German artist Oskar Schlemmer displayed his prophetic dancing robots, geometric motifs and choreographed in spectacular, machine-like repetitions. Schlemmer noted he was feeling out the distinctive tensions "between grubby anthropological narratives and serene mechanical simulacra that are so typical of what will become our automated period". We've progressed, to put it mildly. Or have we? We live in an age of unprecedented human mastery - over birth and death, body and mind, nature and human nature. In every realm of life, science and technology have brought remarkable advances and improvements. But if we can dream about a new age of genetic medicine, we can also shudder at a new age of weapons of mass destruction. We shudder at genetic manipulation, and at news manipulation. We blame/commend artificial intelligence for all of this. For most of us in the information management trade, AI is a nifty tool. We see the benefit of artificial intelligence in deep learning patterns, methodology, and strategy. In his keynote address Greg is going to speak about the computational process of discovering patterns in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, and database systems, how we each need to invent our "cognitive stack of intelligence", finding “interestingness” metrics, trying to grip complexity. Yes, we have the unknown on the run. With the onslaught of artificial intelligence we seem to have launched into a state where we assume that intelligence is somehow the teleological endpoint of evolution. But we have a few things wrong as Greg will elucidate.

About Gregory P. Bufithis

Me? In brief, I am a digital media/telecom attorney, journalist, writer, and media producer. Oh, and a neuroscience/artificial intelligence student at Cambridge University and ETH in Zurich. Read more...

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