Moderated by board member, Neil Jacobstein, an Aspen Crown Fellow, experienced seminar moderator, and leading authority on AI.
This one day seminar was designed to explore the opportunities and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for society. It examined two critical themes:
1. What is AI? Why Does it Matter? and
2. Managing the Benefits and Risks of AI.
These are not issues with neat technological solutions. Rather, they require informed and thoughtful deliberation about tensions between social values such as liberty, equality, community, and efficiency. The objective was not to reach consensus on these issues, but to deepen our appreciation of the opportunities, risks, and trade-offs in all of their 360 degree complexity.
Artificial Intelligence is over 60 years old, but in the past five years, it has exploded into the news and major media. This seminar addressed the factors leading to the recent successes of AI and machine learning. It provided examples of economic and medical opportunities, and the social risks associated with AI and privacy, autonomous systems, and potentially democratic institutions. The seminar was a moderated discussion enhanced by a grounding in values-based readings and had a not-for-attribution rule that encourages creative thinking, dissenting opinions, and candid dialogue, rather than just questions and answers.
