On the 5th of October, Associate Professor Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson presented at E-Research South Australia’s (eRSA) Innovation Symposium in Adelaide, discussing the topic of: “AI Beyond the Myths”.
MC’d by Bruce Linn, the panel of expert speakers at the Symposium included South Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Leanna Read; Professor Lyle Palmer from the University of Adelaide; Professor Anton van den Hengel, the Director of theAustralian Centre for Visual Technologies (ACVT); eRSA CEO Mary Hobson and our very own Associate Professor Anderson from UTS CIC.
Theresa delivered an engaging presentation on the ethics of AI and related data. She dispelled the myth that machines will take over everyone’s jobs, reflecting on how algorithms had taken over tasks she used to do, giving her more time and energy to perform at a higher level. “Data is not as important to humans as how we use said data,” she claimed, underlining that humans are the ones who develop algorithms for AI – AI does not self-generate its algorithms. Theresa also used various texts, including essays and the popular sci-fi film Blade Runner, to illustrate that many thoughts and concerns surrounding the “rise of machines” and AI have remained constant for decades, if not centuries.