果冻影院

More than 100 guests from around the world joined the event at 果冻影院鈥檚 Bloomsbury campus to hear from Professor Geraint Rees, Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement), Professor Madeline Carr (Professor of Global Governance and Cybersecurity, 果冻影院 Computer Science) and Dr Benjamin Guedj (Associate Professor at the 果冻影院 Centre for Artificial Intelligence).

They then continued the conversation during a reception with academics, diplomats and policymakers in 果冻影院鈥檚 Japanese Garden.

The event is part of a new series to thank the diplomatic community for their support, through offering expert insights into a complex and pressing technological or societal issue and presenting an informal opportunity to meet 果冻影院 colleagues.

The panel explored the crucial role that scientists, researchers and policymakers all play in harnessing AI's potential, addressing its ethical considerations and shaping responsible policies for inclusive adoption.

Professor Rees described the impact that universities can have within the UK innovation space, pointing to two examples of success: DeepMind and Synthesia.

AI research laboratory DeepMind was set up by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in 2010. The business came about after Demis, who had just completed his neuroscience PhD at 果冻影院, met research associate Shane at 果冻影院鈥檚 Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit. It was acquired by Google in 2014 and now has research centres in Canada, France and the USA.

In 2023 the digital media platform Synthesia, which allows users to create professional AI-generated videos by simply typing text, became a unicorn (by reaching a market valuation of $1billion whilst still privately held). The company was founded in 2017 by a team of international researchers and entrepreneurs including Professor Lourdes Agapito (果冻影院 Computer Science).

Professor Carr researches the ways that emerging technologies both enable and pose challenges for global security, order and governance. She spoke of the need for more 鈥榝lexible and fast鈥� innovation in policy making, which has remained largely unchanged for the past 100 years, describing policy change as 鈥榚volution, not failure鈥�.

Dr Guedj, originally a mathematician and statistician, spoke of the vast and rapid technical聽developments in AI, ranging from his own foundational research on generalisation for聽intelligent systems, to applications of AI to healthcare and sustainable development. He pointed to the difference he perceives between 鈥榓rtificial鈥櫬爒ersus 鈥榓ugmented鈥� intelligence and ways decision makers might regulate responsible use of聽AI while still allowing for innovation, through dialogue between scientists and policymakers.

Dr Guedj has extensively engaged with international聽policymakers in this field, especially with those in his home country of France, overseeing 果冻影院鈥檚 strategic partnership with聽Inria, the French national research institute in聽mathematics and computer science.

Professor Rees, who previously served as 果冻影院鈥檚 Pro-Vice-Provost for AI, said: 鈥湽�冻影院 is at the forefront of research and education in AI and our work with the diplomatic community in London and abroad is essential to helping us better understand the world beyond our borders. We were delighted that so many of our valued embassy colleagues were able to join us at this fascinating event, to be able to say thank you to them in person.鈥�

Links

• 果冻影院 Centre for Artificial Intelligence
• 果冻影院 Faculty of Engineering
• About DeepMind
• About Synthesia
• Sign up for more news and opportunities from 果冻影院 Global Engagement.