Continuing the discussion around AI and human interaction

At the last meetup there were a couple of questions around which the conversation really got going.

Q. Can a machine be truly intelligent and does the question really matter if the machine does the job or performs as hoped? How soon is the singularity? Ray Kurzweil has said web search will understand your emotions by 2018. Very mixed views on this last time.

Q. If the machine does appear or "is" intelligent, (even if its just a complex set of rules and data) how what are the ethical issues? Last time, Steve Worswick told us about the moral dilemma he faced with his chatbot in that it provided companionship to elderly people, counselled suicidal people and was a place where vulnerable young people reached out for help. Steve felt obliged to keep Mitsuku running!

This will be run in a fishbowl style event.

Unfamiliar with fishbowl events?

If you're unfamiliar with fishbowl events, four to five chairs will be arranged in an inner circle, this is the fishbowl. The remaining chairs will be arranged in concentric circles outside the fishbowl. A few participants will be selected to fill the fishbowl, while the rest of the group sit on the chairs outside the fishbowl. One chair will be left empty, any member of the audience can, at any time, occupy the empty chair and join the fishbowl. When this happens, an existing member of the fishbowl must voluntarily leave the fishbowl and free a chair. The discussion continues with participants frequently entering and leaving the fishbowl. The audience outside the fishbowl listen in on the discussion.