ACM-IISc Pullur Distinguished Computing Visitor Program
Speaker : Prof. Wendy Hall, U. of Southampton, UK
Title : “Generative AI: Fact or Fiction”
Date & Time : February 28, 2025 (Friday), 12:00 Noon
Venue : # 102, CDS Seminar Hall
ABSTRACT
We are all aware of the wave of Generative AI hysteria that has rolled around the world since the release of ChatGPT by Open AI in Nov 2022. AI researchers were aghast and often side lined as leaders of the big tech companies made claims that we didn’t recognise as reality and held sway with the politicians to steer regulation and ethical debates to their benefit. But we all recognise the amazing technological breakthroughs that have taken place in both the big tech companies and university research labs to take us to the verge of an AI revolution that if we manage it well will lead to profound breakthroughs in science that we could not have imagined before. This talk will look at how this story has evolved, attempt to sort the fact from the fiction and consider how we navigate a way ahead that harnesses the power of this new technology whilst mitigating against the serious risks we face if the technology becomes more foe than friend.
BIO: Dame Wendy Hall, DBE, FRS, FREng is Regius Professor of Computer Science, Associate Vice President (International Engagement) and is Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton. She became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the 2009 UK New Year’s Honours list and is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the ACM. Dame Wendy was co-Chair of the UK government’s AI Review, which was published in October 2017 and a member of the AI Council. She is currently the co-Chair of the ACM Publications Board and Editor-in-Chief of Royal Society Open Science. She is an advisor to the UK government and many other governments and companies around the world and in 2023 was appointed to the United Nations high-level advisory body on artificial intelligence. Her latest book, Four Internets, co-written with Kieron O’Hara, was published by OUP in 2021.
About: The ACM-IISc Pullur Distinguished Computing Visitor Program is a joint effort by ACM India and IISc to bring leading international computer scientists to Indian institutions. It is generously sponsored by the Pullur Foundation, founded by IISc alumna, Nirmala Jay Pullur.
Host Faculty: Prof. Jayant Haritsa
ALL ARE WELCOME
