Featured Post from Aston University

Public lecture: how can we have a good future with artificial intelligence?

Mar 8, 2023

2 min

  • Public lecture: how can we have a good future with artificial intelligence?AI expert and educator Professor Anikó Ekárt to discuss one of today’s most provocative topics
  • Lecture will take place on 28 February at Aston University
  • Talk to explore artificial intelligence’s capabilities, benefits and pitfalls.


The potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our daily lives will be explored in a public lecture at Aston University.


The University is inviting the public onto its campus on Tuesday 28 February to hear Professor Anikó Ekárt discuss one of today’s most provocative topics.


Research into AI began in the1950s and since then it has played an increasing role in daily lives, such as chatbots and digital assistants.


As an AI researcher and educator, Professor Ekárt will take a pragmatic view of the technology, arguing that society will benefit from it – but only if it is used responsibly.


She said: “Digital assistants based on speech recognition are now broadly accepted and successfully embedded in many business services.


“However, the most recent release of a chatbot with amazing writing capabilities has divided the world; some are relieved that their job may now become substantially easier, but others have questioned the impact of this on education.


“In the lecture, I’ll suggest three key directions; responsible use of AI, exploring many AI techniques rather than focusing on just one, and educating the public about AI’s capabilities, benefits and pitfalls.”


She will illustrate the success and further potential of less well-known AI techniques, such as evolutionary computation, genetic programming and symbolic regression, based on her 25 years of research.


Anikó who is a professor of artificial intelligence, joined Aston University in 2006 as a lecturer. She leads the artificial intelligence research theme within the School of Informatics and Digital Engineering.



Her research interests are centred around AI methods and their application, focusing on evolutionary algorithms and genetic programming. She has successfully contributed to applications of AI techniques to health, engineering, transport, and art. In 2022 she was the winner of the Evo* Award for Outstanding Contribution to Evolutionary Computation in Europe.



The free event will be taking place on 28 February from 6 pm to 8 pm and will be followed by a drinks reception. To sign up for a place visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-inaugural-lecture-by-professor-aniko-ekart-tickets-516518760517

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