THE FUTURE IS HERE

Dr. Jim Hendler: Artificial Intelligence: Existential Threat or Our Best Hope for the Future?

Many people view the triumph of the computer Watson over the world’s best Jeopardy players in 2011 as the leading edge of a new age of smart machines. Since then, we have seen self-driving cars, smart search engines, and increasingly able robots moving from the realm of science fiction to deployed technology. As this occurs, we increasingly hear dystopian futurists bemoan a world where drones will replace pilots, computers will replace doctors, and scientists will be put out of work as intelligent computers increasingly replace the knowledge workers in modern society. They worry whether, as scientist Steven Hawking stated, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” In this talk, Dr. Hendler will explore that position and contrast with another approach — that “social machines,” which bring together humans and increasingly intelligent computers, may not be something to fear, but rather the best hope to solve the complex problems facing our world.