A range of transformative innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) technology now appears likely within the next decade. Those innovations include self-driving cars, real-time speech-to-speech translation, fully automated image recognition and autonomous robots.

These technologies will have a substantial level of autonomy and intelligence. Several of the world’s most prominent intellectual and technology leaders, including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, have recently suggested careful consideration of the potential impacts intelligent machines might have on society.

A CIS Seminar Series on the Emergence of Intelligent Machines considers this AI issue from a range of perspectives, including machine ethics (Should an autonomous vehicle swerve to save several people at the cost of endangering the life of its passenger?), human labor and employment (Will AI systems cause massive unemployment?), autonomous decision-making (Will an AI decide if you get a loan? Or get an operation?), as well as concerns about the potential emergence of superhuman intelligence (Will a super-AI work for our benefit?).

Lectures are on Monday evenings, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 155, Olin Hall, and are free and open to the public.

Speakers and topics: 

• Feb. 27 – Bart Selman, Cornell: The Future of AI: Benefits vs. Risks;
• March 6 – Jon Kleinberg, Cornell: Inherent Trade-Offs in Algorithmic Fairness;
• March 13 – Kilian Weinberger, Cornell: Human-Interpretable Machine Learning;
• March 20 – Dan Weld, University of Washington: Computational Ethics for AI;
• March 27 – Moshe Vardi, Rice University: Humans, Machines and Work: The Future is Now;
• April 17 – Karen Levy, Cornell: Working with and Against AI;
• April 24 – Ross Knepper, Cornell: The Ethics of Robotics; and
• May 1 – Joe Halpern, Cornell: Morality: In Search of Formal Definitions.