SXSW 2019

Big Ideas in AI: Solving Problems… Since 1696

Description:

Artificial intelligence seems new on the scene. But most of the big ideas in AI are decades or even centuries old. Do you have an Amazon Echo? If so, you can thank Grace Hopper: the first person ever to talk to a computer in English (1955). Excited about AI in health care? You can learn a lot from Florence Nightingale, who started the first data-science revolution in medicine (1854). Keen on AI for Smart Cities? Look no further than Isaac Newton’s second career, as Master of the Royal Mint (1696). No matter where you look in AI, you’ll find an idea that people have been kicking around for a long time. In this talk by James Scott, data scientist and co-author of AIQ: How People and Machines are Smarter Together, we’ll explore the deep history behind the key AI technologies of the future.


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Takeaways

  1. The computers aren’t the important story in AI. The real story of AI is a story of ideas and of the people behind them.
  2. Most of the big ideas in AI are surprisingly old. The big historical puzzle isn’t why AI is happening now, but why it didn’t happen long ago.
  3. The centuries-old idea behind AI is human judgment can be improved by fitting an equation to data and using it to make predictions about the world.

Speakers


Organizer

James Scott, Associate Professor, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin


Meta Information:

  • Event: SXSW
  • Format: Solo
  • Track: Intelligent Future
  • Track 2
  • Level: Beginner


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