2023 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Truth about AI
Posted: 3rd January 2024
Photo credit: Paul Wilkinson
Professor Mike Wooldridge, Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford and Director for Artificial Intelligence (AI) at The Alan Turing Institute in London, tackled the big questions facing AI research and unravelled the myths about how this ground-breaking technology really works in the 2023 Royal Institution (Ri) Christmas Lectures.
Professor Mike Wooldridge said about the Lectures
With the explosion of interest in AI this year, we have a unique opportunity with this year’s lectures to educate viewers about this most consequential of technologies. Afterwards, I hope the audience will be able to navigate this most exciting – and most hyped – area of science with confidence.
Professor Mike Wooldridge
The Ri Christmas Lectures were established by Michael Faraday in 1825 to engage and educate young people about science. Since 1936, they have been broadcast on the BBC, making them the first science show on UK national television. They have been broadcast every year since 1966.
With a target audience of 11-17 year olds, the Ri Christmas Lectures are accessible for people of all ages and all levels of scientific knowledge. With 3 million views a year on BBC Four and iPlayer, and 60,000 students participating in related Ri activities, they continue to be the world’s leading science lectures for young people.
Mike added
I am profoundly honoured to have presented the 2023 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. As the oldest popular science lecture series in the world, they are a deeply cherished and much-loved feature of UK scientific culture. Many of the world’s leading scientists were inspired in their career by the lectures, which make science accessible and entertaining for young people.
Professor Mike Wooldridge
Across the three Lectures, Mike covers:
1. How to Build an Intelligent Machine
(Link to lecture: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001tv7s/royal-institution-christmas-lectures-2023-professor-mike-wooldridge-the-truth-about-ai-1-how-to-build-an-intelligent-machine)
Exploring the roots of AI, Mike reveals how Alan Turing devised the Imitation Game – a test of whether a machine answering a series of questions could pass as a human. He examines real-life neurons in action and explains how artificial neural networks are inspired by neural structures in the brain.
AI exploded into the public consciousness in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT and boasts around 100 million monthly users. Mike unravels the mystery of how large language models like ChatGPT work, and he finds out if one day this technology - along with a whole suite of different AI tools - will allow us to understand the animals we share this planet with.
2. My AI Life
(Link to lecture: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001tv98/royal-institution-christmas-lectures-2023-professor-mike-wooldridge-the-truth-about-ai-2-my-ai-life)
Mike investigates how games like chess and Go have become a training ground for AI, helping to bring about key advances we are now seeing in the field, and he reveals how simple methods of learning, like rewarding success, have been used to train AI in spectacular ways.
Mike also discusses the huge impact AI has had on our creative lives – as it is able to write songs and create artworks in seconds. With the help of artist Eric Drass (aka shardcore), the audience creates a collaborative artwork and discovers how image generation works.
3. The Future of AI: Dream or a Nightmare?
Mike takes a ride in a driverless car. Autonomous vehicles, once a science fiction dream, are now a reality. Many AI researchers believe removing human drivers will eventually make our streets much safer. Mike explores how the car ‘sees’ and perceives the world – and how with the help of AI, it gets better the more it drives.
Although AI will create many exciting opportunities, advances in AI have raised fears – some justified, others not. With the help of expert guests, Mike talks us through some of the risks AI poses. He unpacks the very real danger of bias in AI, asking how we avoid creating AI that favours those who resemble its creators, and he explores the dangers of 'fake news' and how AI algorithms can lead to dangerous online 'echo chambers', helping to foment extreme views.
During the lectures, Mike was joined by some major figures from the AI world, including University of Oxford colleagues, students and alumni including Professor Ana Namburete, Professor Paul Newman, Associate Professor Maurice Fallon, Michal Staniaszek, Professor Perla Maiolino, Giammarco Caroleo, Doctor Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool and Steve Mould. Tom Mustill, biologist and Emmy-nominated filmmaker and writer, was also featured; he is currently working with Professor Michael Bronstein on Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative).
Professor Mike Wooldridge is an academic and author specialising in AI and is a professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford and at The Alan Turing Institute. He has worked in AI for more than 30 years (nearly 12 in the department) and has won multiple national and international awards for his research and teaching. He has written more than nine books including the Ladybird Expert Book on AI.
If you are in the UK, you can watch on the 2023 Ri Christmas Lectures on iPlayer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00pmbqq/royal-institution-christmas-lectures
Or you can watch them in YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0gZAlZgI34 if you're outside the UK.