Join Professor Susan Schneider (considered one of the most prestigious thinkers in the world of the philosophy of mind and AI), and journalist broadcaster Miranda Sawyer for a tête-à-tête on the fact vs fiction of AI in film. Grab the popcorn and get ready to find out if we’re really stuck inside the Matrix.
From 2001: A Space Odyssey to I, Robot, so much of our understanding about AI is manifest in our minds from films and popular culture. And with the terrifying imagined futures of Bladerunner and Terminator increasingly aligning with our own, what film predictions have come true and how far are we from sentient AI? Miranda Sawyer plays her choice AI film showreel as we explore the future of intelligence, and the likelihood of AI superseding humans and taking over the world.
Susan discusses the anthropomorphism of technology a la Ex Machina and imagines a centre for mind design where you can alter your own cognitive abilities, intellectual exoskeletons and the Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind conundrum. And asks the question, is technology inevitably going to go too far..?
Often filmmakers seem to have almost prophetic abilities to see into the future, so what is it to be for humankind and artificial intelligence?
Dr Susan Schneider is Founding Director, Center for the Future Mind, Florida Atlantic University, NASA Chair, NASA and Library of Congress. She is also the Director of the AI, Mind and Society group at the University of Connecticut and a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. She frequently writes opinion pieces for publications such as the New York Times, The Financial Times and Scientific American. Susan’s latest book, Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, received outstanding reviews from the likes of Forbes, Washington Post and Nature.