The Algorithmic Futures Podcast

How is the booming AI industry linked to the world’s growing interest in nuclear power? What might this mean for the future of both sectors (and the planet) moving forward? We talk about all this and far more in our chat with Cindy Vestergaard, Senior Fellow and Director of Converging Technologies and Global Security at the Stimson Center in Washington DC. If you have an interest in how complex (disruptive) technologies shape and are shaped by the complexities of our rapidly changing world, then this episode is for you. This is our last episode of season 3!    Credits Guest – Cindy Vestergaard (Stimson Center) Co-hosts – Liz Williams and Zena Assaad Producers – Robbie Slape, Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio)   The full transcript for this episode is available at https://algorithmicfutures.org/s03e08 

Engineers use STEM skills (and beyond) to solve problems – but what does a career in engineer look like? How do we attract students to careers in engineering? How do we foster and support diversity and inclusion in the engineering workforce? And finally, how do we train engineers to manage the increase in complexity that comes with emergent technologies like artificial intelligence – particularly for safety-critical settings? We explore these questions (and beyond) with Jane MacMaster, Global Engineering Integrity Director at Babcock International Group, and former Chief Engineer of Engineers Australia.   Credits Guest: Jane MacMaster Co-hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Robbie Slape, Zena Assaad, Liz Williams Audio / Video producer: Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio)   For the full episode transcript, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org/s03e07   We love feedback! If you enjoyed this episode, share with friends or leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. This helps us make more of the content you love!

What does it take to regulate artificial intelligence? We invited Professor Geoff Mulgan of University College London, author of When Science Meets Power (Polity Press) and many other titles, to help us unpack the possibilities. Listen in as he draws on his background in technology, governance, academia, and beyond to consider this multidimensional challenge and offer some thoughts on how to make progress. There are some calls to action, too, for those of you in the field.   Credits Guest: Geoff Mulgan Co-Hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Robbie Slape, Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio), Zena Assaad, Liz Williams For the full transcript or YouTube vodcast, visit: https://algorithmicfutures.org/s03e06

This month, we chat with Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist and science communicator with a passion for creatively making use of technology for her work in wildlife conservation. We learn all about how she uses drones to survey the health of whales in transit and what research like this is telling us about these magnificent creatures. We also get into a wide-ranging discussion about life in science as a woman in STEM and in academia, the importance of sharing our work with society, the role citizen science can play in our understanding of the world, and so much more. Vanessa is a real inspiration, and we think our chat with her is a perfect way to get yourself in the mood for Australia's National Science Week. Guest: Vanessa Pirotta Hosts: Zena Assaad, Liz Williams Producers: Zena Assaad, Liz Williams, Robbie Slape, Martin Franklin A video of our chat and a full (edited!) transcript are available on our website: https://algorithmicfutures.org/s03e05 

What are AI standards – and why should we care? Our guest today, Dr Kobi Leins, has first-hand experience as both contributor to the development of AI standards for the world and a professional working on supporting safe AI in real world industry contexts. We talk about what AI standards are for and why the discussion and work feeding into standards – and AI development and deployment more broadly – matters for us all. It’s the kind of tricky discussion that starts in industry and day-to-day applications of AI, and ends in military uses of AI. If you care about AI ethics, safety, responsibility, all those words – then you need to listen to this conversation. Credits Guest: Dr Kobi Leins Hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Robbie Slape, Zena Assaad, Liz Williams, Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) Thanks to the Australian National Centre for the Advancement of Science for letting us use their podcast studio.  For episode links and the full transcript, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org/s03e04  

The idea that artificial intelligence is taking our jobs can be scary – but in actuality, there are cases where this is a good thing. Dr Sara Webb (Swinburne University of Technology) shares one of these stories in today’s episode, which begins with a TedX talk in Melbourne and ends with a discussion of some of the many ways techniques developed for astrophysics are transforming seemingly unrelated fields. Sara is an astrophysicist based at Swinburne University and is also a published author with a talent for communicating complex ideas about our universe (and AI) for broad audiences. Listen in to hear more about the role AI is increasingly playing in astronomy, how she got into astrophysics in the first place, and more in this wide ranging episode that paints a picture of what a career in STEM can look like.   Episode credits: Guest: Sara Webb Co-hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Zena Assaad, Robbie Slape, Liz Williams, Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) Thanks to the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science for letting us use their podcast studio to record this episode. For the full episode transcript, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org 

In the age of DALL-E and Stable Diffusion, what counts as art? And what can art tell us about AI? In this episode, we explore these questions and more with the help of Eryk Salvaggio, a US-based artist, designer and researcher whose work explores the fabric of artificial intelligence -- and often playfully defies its boundaries.  Credits Guest – Eryk Salvaggio Hosts – Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers – Robbie Slape, Zena Assaad, Liz Williams Audio Producer – Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) Thank you to the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science for allowing us to use their podcast studio for this episode. For the full transcript or episode video, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org 

It is the launch of season 3 of this podcast, and we thought it was high time for a positionality statement – er, episode. Why not align it with the start of a new season and our debut on YouTube? Listen in for an episode featuring our co-hosts, Liz Williams and Zena Assaad, in which we explore everything from relics, reactions, reciprocity, risk, and the complexities involved in creating and regulating AI systems in the real world.  Credits: Co-hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Robbie Slape, Zena Assaad, Liz Williams, and Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) Thanks to the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science for letting us use their podcast studio for recording. We would also like to pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we recorded and edited this episode.  For show notes, the full (edited!) transcript, and maybe even a picture of the big blue ball, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org

In our final episode of season 2, we are grateful to be joined by Damith Herath, Associate Professor of Robotics and Art at the University of Canberra. Damith is a multi-talented roboticist with a long history of working in the art world, and an interest in understanding how to shape human-robot collaboration in real-world environments. During our conversation, Damith talks to us about how his innate drive to experiment with electronics and robotics led him from an entrepreneurial childhood in Sri Lanka to the forefront of robotics and automation research in Australia.  Credits: Guest: Damith Herath (University of Canberra) Co-hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Zena Assaad, Liz Williams, Robbie Slape, Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) Acknowledgements: A special thanks to the ANU School of Cybernetics for lending us the use of their podcast studio for this recording. Transcript:  A full transcript of this episode is available on our website: https://algorithmicfutures.org/s02e09

What does responsibility look like in military contexts – and how do you think about encoding it in autonomous military technologies with the capacity to harm? In today’s episode, we explore this topic from a legal perspective with the help of Lauren Sanders. Lauren is a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland with expertise in international criminal law, international humanitarian law, and domestic counter-terrorism law. She is also host and editor of the Law and the Future of War podcast.  Episode Credits: Guest: Lauren Sanders Co-Hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Zena Assaad, Liz Williams, and Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) This episode is rated explicit because the topic of discussion may not be suitable for young listeners. For the full episode transcript, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org/s02e08