Stuart Russell will survey recent and expected developments in AI and their implications. Some are enormously positive, while others, such as the development of autonomous weapons and the replacement of humans in economic roles, may be negative. Beyond these, one must expect that AI capabilities will eventually exceed those of humans across a range of real-world decision making scenarios. Should this be a cause for concern, as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have suggested? And, if so, what can we do about it?  While some in the mainstream AI community dismiss the issue, I will argue that the problem is real and that the technical aspects of it are solvable if we replace current definitions of AI with a version based on provable benefit to humans.

Dr. Russell will appear as a guest lecturer for Dr. David Haussler’s Scientific Principles of Life class. All are welcome.

Stuart Russell, professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, is one of the world leaders in this area, see, e.g. his TED talk here.