Curle Lecture 2023 Should we be perturbed about AI?

The vulnerability of artificial intelligence (AI) systems to adversarial perturbations raises questions around security and ethics, and many governments are now considering proposals for their regulation. Mathematics is at the heart of this landscape. It fuels the conflict escalation issue, where new defiance strategies are needed to counter an increasingly sophisticated range of attacks.

Perhaps more importantly, mathematics allows us to address big picture questions, such as: what is the trade-off between robustness and accuracy; can any AI system be fooled; and do proposed regulations make sense?

Focusing on deep learning algorithms, Professor Des Higham of the University of Edinburgh will describe in simple terms how mathematical concepts can help us to understand and, where possible, ameliorate current limitations in AI technology.

Please note that this lecture is public and secondary school pupils are welcome.