Tim Josling – Progress in AI – Humanity+ @Melbourne 2012
Filmed at Humanity+ @Melbourne 2012 – Abstract here
The Surprising Rate of Progress in Artificial Intelligence Research
Artificial Intelligence is one of the foundations of Transhumanism, along with nanotechnology, biotechnology, and robotics. This talk will survey the rapidly accelerating progress in building machine intelligence, particularly over the last 10 years and the prospects for the next one to three decades. We cover advances in hardware such as the single molecule transistor and the first computer with processing power comparable to the human brain as well as the continuation exponential growth in processing power courtesy of Moore’s Law. Accessible descriptions of breakthroughs in software and algorithms such as self-learning machines, reinforcement learning, Support Vector machines, and hierarchical learning networks illustrate how the “software bottleneck” is being overcome. The talk includes video footage of applications of Artificial Intelligence technology.
Tim Josling studied Law, Anthopology, Philosophy and Mathematics before switching to Computer Science at the dawn of the computer era. He worked on implementing some of the first transactional systems in Australia, later worked on the first ATM networks and was the chief architect for one of the first Internet Banking applications in Australia, and designed an early message switching (“middleware”) application in the USA. During his career he specialised in making large scale applications reliable and fast, saving several major projects from being cancelled due to poor performance and excessive running costs. This led to an interest in the progress of computer hardware and in Moore’s Law, which states that the power of computers grows roughly 10-fold every 5 years. In his spare time he contributed to various open source projects such as the GNU Compiler Collection. After attending the first Singularity Summit in Australia, he decided to retire so he could devote himself full-time to researching Artificial Intelligence, the Technological Singularity and Trans-humanism. He is currently working on applying AI techniques to financial and investment applications.