About this Event
The AI at Melbourne Colloquium Series, presented by Melbourne Connect and the University of Melbourne, is delighted to welcome Professor William C Regli, an internationally distinguished leader in artificial intelligence, autonomy, innovation and national security. His visit to the University is hosted by Melbourne National Security and Defence (MNSD).
Today's developments around AI are being driven by opposing forces. One views AI as humanity's grasping of Promethean fire whereas others see existential risk and threats to human safety, privacy and wellbeing. We might hope the reality is somewhere in between – and we might suspect the reason for these extreme views are we may have the problems around AI framed incorrectly.
This presentation attempts to summarise Professor Regli’s personal views regarding AI that he developed during decades in various forms of public service. He was a member of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) leadership team in the Defense Sciences Office (2014-2017), a founding director of the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security with the Department of Defense's University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for the social sciences and AI at the University of Maryland (2018-2023). Most recently, he was a Senior Advisor for AI Risk Modeling for the Biden Administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy (2023-2024).
The bottom line, upfront:
- Current AI narratives are techno-philic and need to be re-framed. This is because the thorniest problems are decidedly non-technical - they are mostly about AI's interaction with, and influence on, people and society
- Unlike physics and engineering, we do not yet have the required level of scientific understanding about AI and its effects on people and society needed to establish rigorous engineering practices and manage its use
- The impacts of AI, operating at various levels in our society (ranging from individuals to our planetary community as a whole), are going to be uneven in scale, speed and effect.
Professor William C Regli outlines intentions for this session:
I would rather not merely admire these problems; hence I will try to re-frame them as inherently socio-technical. I will provide a practical methodology for identifying emerging scientific and engineering questions related to the ongoing integration of AI with humans and society. Using this approach, I will provide several examples of research questions that merit investigation. In the end,
I hope to provide a unique perspective on recent developments in AI and a tangible means by which we might address these daunting emerging challenges.
Event Details
11:00am-12:00pm Keynote Presentation and Q&A
12:00-1:00pm Networking and Refreshments
Event venue & nearby stays
Melbourne Connect - The Forum (Superfloor, Level M), 700 Swanston Street, Carlton, Australia
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