It’s not artificial intelligence, it’s the people managing it
The Artificial Intelligence Conference
I’ve just attended the first edition of an event that promises to be one of the largest key conferences in Romania on artificial intelligence.
Buzzwords such as machine learning, deep learning, bots, data science, human intelligence, machines have been the main focus points of the 30-minute presentations that kept the audience well engaged until the end.
Highly knowledgeable speakers from all over Europe have shared their insights, experiences, their highest hopes but also greatest fears related to the advent of artificial intelligence. Some of the specific topics that have been addressed ranged from predicting online payments fraud with machine learning, doing artificial intelligence with Azure, classifying images using Cognitive Services to reading minds (yes, that’s right - do recommender systems ring a bell? :) ) and ruining projects by not knowing that better can sometimes mean worse.
Only at its first edition, the conference was a real success gathering around 400 participants and 12 international speakers who were really eager to share their expertise. The 12 professionals that took the floor have key positions in some of the largest IT and technology companies. You can read more about them on NDR’s website.
What’s next in AI?
At this moment, people everywhere are both infatuated with and afraid of artificial intelligence and they see it as a glorious breakthrough that will contribute to the development of technology and lead to a better life but also as an infamous tool that might represent the end of mankind. After all, Google’s Duplex feature can make life way much easier and convenient for a lot of us, yet, if we stop to think about the privacy and security implications, we might lose a bit of all that enthusiasm and start asking some questions.
Elon Musk is currently one of the most fervent opponents of artificial intelligence, considering it an unnecessary evil and “more dangerous that nuclear weapons”. In various interviews, he endlessly pointed out the perils of AI and admited that it scares the hell out of him.
Will artificial intelligence generate human-like machines that will take over the world and destroy the poor human being that never thought its own creation will turn against him? I believe the answer lies within each and every person that deals with this. Artificial intelligence itself is not necessarily good or bad, it turns that way in the hand of the individual. AI can only go bad if it’s used with the wrong intentions by the wrong people.
Looking forward to see what the future holds for artificial intelligence. And to NDR organizers, a big thank you and see you in 2019!