Episode 8: A look back, a look forward - Podcasting as a medium for collaboration and education, and a glimpse at the future of the Algorithmic Futures Podcast
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
Release Date: 08/31/2022
S03E08: How AI and geopolitics are driving change in the nuclear sector, with Cindy Vestergaard
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 , 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...
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S03E07: Engineering futures, with Jane MacMaster
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
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...
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S03E06: Regulating artificial intelligence, with Geoff Mulgan
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
What does it take to regulate artificial intelligence? We invited of University College London, author of (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 (), Zena Assaad, Liz Williams For the full transcript...
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S03E05: Soaring with drones, swimming with whales, with Dr Vanessa Pirotta
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
This month, we chat with , 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...
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S03E04: Exploring AI standards, with Dr Kobi Leins
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
What are AI standards – and why should we care? Our guest today, , 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,...
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S03E03: How AI is transforming astronomy (and other stories), with Dr Sara Webb
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
The idea that artificial intelligence is taking our jobs can be scary – but in actuality, there are cases where this is a good thing. () shares one of these stories in today’s episode, which begins with a 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...
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S03E02: The art of artificial intelligence, with Eryk Salvaggio
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
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 () Thank you to the for allowing us to use their podcast studio for this episode. For the full...
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S03E01: Relics, reciprocity, and risk: A tale of two co-hosts
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
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 () Thanks to the for letting us...
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S02E09: Robotics, Entrepreneurship, and Art, with Damith Herath
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
In our final episode of season 2, we are grateful to be joined by , Associate Professor of Robotics and Art at the . 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 ()...
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S02E08: Navigating autonomous weapons systems and responsible military technology, with Lauren Sanders
The Algorithmic Futures Podcast
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 . Episode Credits: Guest: Lauren Sanders Co-Hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams Producers: Zena Assaad, Liz...
info_outlineIn this episode, co-hosts Zena and Liz share some of their experiences on creating podcast episodes in support of the Social Responsibility of Algorithms workshop series and discuss the potential futures of the Algorithmic Futures podcast. Along the way, they have a wide-ranging discussion covering everything from how assumptions get embedded in technologies deployed at scale to what it’s like being a woman working in a male-dominated STEM field.
This episode was developed in support of the Algorithmic Futures Policy Lab, a collaboration between the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for European Studies, ANU School of Cybernetics, ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society, DIMACS at Rutgers University, and CNRS LAMSADE. The Algorithmic Futures Policy Lab is supported by an Erasmus+ Jean Monnet grant from the European Commission.