Telluride Science: Town Talk 7/20 – “Scientific Exploration w/Artificial Intelligence”

19 Jul Telluride Science: Town Talk 7/20 – “Scientific Exploration w/Artificial Intelligence”

At the Telluride Transfer Warehouse on Tuesday, July 20th, Telluride Science hosts its fifth Town Talk of the season “Scientific Exploration with Artificial Intelligence: The exciting potential of AI in an era when the impossible becomes possible.” Cash bar and doors open at 6:00pm; hour-long program begins at 6:30pm.

For more on Telluride Science and The Depot, go here.

To learn more about the Depot Project and how to become involved in the future of Telluride Science, contact Mark Kozak at mark@telluridescience.org.

Special Event! If you have children in grades K-6, come early to the Transfer Warehouse, as  pamelist Natalie Stingelin and her students will represent Telluride Science with a program on Solar Cells for Pinhead Institute’s Punk Science program just prior to the Telluride Science Town Talk. The Pinhead program starts at 5:15pm.

Artificial intelligence. It’s everywhere  – making warehouse operations more efficient, rapidly selecting promising medicines to treat disease, and identifying any species of bird or flower from your smartphone.

AI is already impacting our everyday lives and, in the form of machine learning, AI has the potential to completely transform many fields of science. Experiments and studies that would have once required years to complete may now be compressed into hours, sometimes even just minutes, of computer time. However, this work is not without practical and ethical concerns.

What does it mean mathematically for a computer program to be fair? How do we make sure that AI aligns with our human values? Can we design AI to remain free from racism, ageism, sexism, or other biases that may create unwanted and unfortunate results?

The potential of AI is simultaneously exciting and alarming.

On Tuesday, July 20th, veteran journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis will interview a panel of esteemed scientists to learn about some of the extraordinary advances made possible through AI and how AI is used to support scientists working in a broad range of interest areas. The panel will also tackle questions about concerns about AI and how scientists approach the daunting issues presented by the rapid development of AI.

This week’s panelists include:

Natalie Stingelin – Professor of Materials Science and head of the Stingelin Group at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Natalie is also the Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics and holds a Chaire Internationale Associée by the Excellence Initiative of the Université de Bordeaux, as well as a position at Imperial College, London

Jon Tapson – IONA Technologies, a long-time Telluride Neuromorph, and former professor at Western Sydney University and Telluride local.

Sergei Tretiak – Physics and Chemistry of Materials deputy group leader in the Theoretical Division and a Staff Scientist for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.