** Apologies for any cross posting **
This is a final notification of the forthcoming discussion BioCentre is hosting on the future of employment and robotics.
We would be delighted to have you attend this panel discussion which focuses on encouraging engagement with and dialogue on an important issue affecting our future.
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ARE ROBOTS REALLY AFTER OUR JOBS?
Tuesday 3rd February 2015, 4:30pm - 6:00pm
University College London, Gower Street
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The vision of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots 'taking over the world' has tended to be the mainstay of science fiction plots. However, significant advances in AI mean that certain visions of the future could very quickly become science reality.
Within the last decade AI-driven products are beginning to be more prominent. Companies such as Facebook and Microsoft are hiring artificial intelligence researchers at an unprecedented rate. As understanding of AI and deep neural networks increase, advances in computer vision and speech recognition are being achieved.
In parallel to these achievements, a key theme in the conversation is emerging concerning robots and the future of work. A report by Pew Research explored the views of some two thousand experts on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and economics, concerning the role of automation between today and 2025. There was an almost perfect split in opinion: 52% predicting an optimistic path of the future, in contrast to 48% who expressed concern and worry about the future.
Some argue that robots will create more jobs than they will take over. Whilst others worry that their arrival in the workplace will lead to a break down in society. To give just one example, as Google's work on self-driving cars continues to develop, it is not difficult to see that the next big thing could be automated driving, threatening the work of many taxi drivers, lorry drivers and others employed in transportation.
At the end of 2014 Professor Stephen Hawking said that the development of full artificial intelligence could in fact spell the end of the human race. Similarly, Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Space-X, warned of the risk of 'something seriously dangerous happening' as a result of machines with artificial intelligence, could be in as few as five years.
Amongst the various perspectives on the future, there appears to be at least one common area of agreement: over the next decade robots and AI will continue to increase and advance, leading to at least some degree of displacement of work by robots. This warrants serious engagement with what the future might hold. The challenge is to start thinking through the opportunities, challenges and consequences of these advances in AI and robotics and start engaging in some of the questions which arise including:
> How do we harness the benefits whilst mitigating the risks of a robot workforce?
> How might advances in robotics help to create new jobs and increase the value of work that requires uniquely human skills and capabilities?
> What will be done with the large number of people who do not have the necessary skills for non-mechanised jobs?
> What would it mean to be human in a world without work?
Join us for what promises to be a thought provoking discussion.
Guest speakers include:
> Dr. ANDERS SANDBERG James Martin Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology
> RICHARD EXELL, Senior Policy Officer, TUC
> PROF NIGEL CAMERON, CEO of Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies (C-PET)
The event is FREE to attend but registration is required. To register please visit: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/are-robots-really-after-our-jobs-tickets-15400371927
BioCentre is pleased to be partnering with UCL's Science, Medicine and Science (SMS) Network for this event, of which BioCentre is a contributor.
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