When it comes to artificial intelligence, people have lots of questions. Data scientist and statistician, James Scott, has the answers. His book, AIQ looks at AI through the lenses of history, science and morality.
Moving away from statistics and illusive technological terms, Scott explained AI today at Hay through the power of anecdote and images. He humanised something that is so often deemed incomprehensive to the general public by giving examples of people that are not normally considered to be pioneers of AI, like Florence Nightingale.
In essence, what Scott does is to demystify the technology that ever-increasingly shapes our lives, and to highlight that humans still have control over it. Quashing the concerns of those in the audience, he predicted that AI does not have the capacity to take human jobs or make our roles in society redundant. Instead, he sees the future of the technology as a driver of change and improved human efficiency. In the same way that Florence Nightingale collated data and analysed her findings in the Crimean War, he said that the NHS had the capacity to introduce AI in a way that would relieve stress on its staff.
“When you think of AI, don’t think of a droid,” he said, “don’t think of R2-D2 or the Terminator or the Daleks from Doctor Who. Think of an algorithm and an algorithm is literally just a set of instructions that are so simple and direction that even something as literal-minded as a computer can understand them.”
For Scott, Britain is in a great position in the field of Artificial Intelligence. He sees the decision to pool and share health care data as a positive and transformative one, not one that infringes on privacy. “Great Britain can be the nation that does this. Think of all the great gifts to healthcare that Great Britain has given… This can be the gift to the world that you can give.”
If you missed this, you might also like event number 378, A Sustainable Digital World? at 4pm today.
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