London Thinks - Waiting for GlaDOS: What Could Sentient Machines Mean for Humanity?

For decades, we've imagined the rise of computer-based life forms, super-intelligences whose intellects could far surpass our own and trigger a new phase in non-human evolution. Could these visions become real, and why do they have such a grip on our imaginations?

For decades, we've imagined the rise of computer-based life forms, super-intelligences whose intellects could far surpass our own and trigger a new phase in non-human evolution.

Could these visions become real, and why do they have such a grip on our imaginations? How has culture informed AI research? Should we be more worried about sentient machines, or the dumb algorithms and data integration being worked on today? Do we still have privacy under the dead, uncaring gaze of a machine intelligence? What does humanism mean to an artificial intelligence anyway?

Science writer, broadcaster and geneticist Dr Adam Rutherford will chair a panel of human intelligences at this talk, including leading roboticist Professor Alan Winfield and Dr Kathleen Richardson.

Professor Alan Winfield is Director of the Science Communication Unit at UWE Bristol. Dr Kathleen Richardson is Senior Research Fellow in the Ethics of Robotics at De Montfort University.

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