AI Podcast Interviews Articles and Reports

Episode Summary:  In this episode, Stephan draws on his robotics background to articulate what it takes to give a robot a "personality", explaining the differences between responses and propensities along the way. Androids are already making news in the entertainment and retail industries, but we delve into why the health sector is one of the next big industries, and how culture might influence social acceptance across country lines.

Episode Summary: Dr. Ayers provides a comprehensive overview of his development of autonomous underwater robots, intended to help discover and destroy dangerous underwater land mines. He provides his perspective on two major obstacles facing robotics, including the concept of autonomy, providing valuable insight in light of the current events surrounding the development of autonomous AI.

Episode Summary: Studying the mind has influenced, and will continue to influence, the development of artificial intelligence. In a largely digital world, Bruce turns a clarifying light on the topic of digital versus analog computing, and articulates on how the latter may be making a slow comeback in the wake of discoveries in neural information processing.

Episode Summary: The brain that we have is suited to our past, not our present - and is the (sometimes unfortunate) result of evolution stumbling forward for hundreds of thousands of years. In this episode, we aim to make sense of and deal with it. Dr. Gary Marcus shares his insight as to what the brain is good and bad at, and why - in addition to what this might imply for the future of human enhancement.

Joanne Pransky received her BA from Tufts University in the mid 1980’s, and began championing public awareness and exposure to robotics and AI technology, playfully calling herself the “first robot psychiatrist.” Since then, she’s been featured on CNN, The Discovery Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel, and even the Tonight Show with Jay Leno - aiming to expose the world to technology and it’s ethical implications.

Dr. Hables Gray graduated with a PhD in applied philosophy from UCAL Santa Cruz, and is best known for his writings on technology, war, and cyborgs (the combination of organic and inorganic, the evolved and the invented).

Sean Blacknell has spent the last year working on a film called “The Future of Work and Death,” based on interviews with futurists, economists, philosophers, and other experts - with an aim to bring the film to Sundance and other prominent festivals in the coming year.

Dr. Roger Schank received his PhD from Stanford, taught at Yale, and altogether has spent around three decades attempting to solve the big problems of artificial intelligence.
In this interview, Dr. Schank talks about a kind of helpful “teaching” artificial intelligence that would go beyond Siri and help us to make the right decisions at the right times given our own objectives. He explains why he believes such a project is not on Google’s agenda, and what he believes might be required to create such an AI.