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Profs and Pints DC presents: “AI’s Promise and Pitfalls,” a forward-looking discussion of how artificial intelligence can be directed to do good rather than harm, with Mary “Missy” Cummings, professor of robotics and director of the Autonomy and Robotics Center at George Mason University and former senior safety advisor to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
When a Tesla on autopilot crashes or hits a pedestrian, Professor Missy Cummings is one of the first people that journalists look to call. As a leading researcher of the application of artificial intelligence in safety-critical systems and the ethical and social impact of technology, she’s at the forefront of efforts to monitor the applications and impact of AI and ensure that it is used safely and ethically.
Don’t look for her to join the leaders in academe and industry who have called for the deployment of AI to be paused or banned, however. A self-described “tech futurist,” she instead takes the view that AI is here to stay, and the best course is to work to ensure that it is used responsibly.
Join Dr. Cummings at DC’s Penn Social to gain a better understanding of artificial intelligence and the tough questions that scholars are grappling with as they consider its potential impact on our future.
She’ll discuss how artificial intelligence works and explore the ethical and safety-related concerns that have been raised in response to the growing use of AI in transportation systems like self-driving cars and in ChatGPT, Bard, and other large language models. In addition, she’ll tackle the question of how much AI represents a threat to jobs.
She’ll share key lessons she has learned about artificial intelligence in the field and as a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advisor and she’ll describe how they apply to all forms of AI. Her bottom line: AI still has a long way to go before it can be considered a success, but it holds clear benefits if responsibly introduced. What’s needed are informed conversations about what the meaningful human certification of AI systems could and should look like.
Her talk will offer you great insights into what’s on AI experts’ minds. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: Tesla autopilot engaged on I-80 near Lake Tahoe. (Photo by natecation / Wikimedia Commons.)
