BRIDGING THE GAP

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF EXPOSING AI TO THE NATURAL WORLD
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A TECHNOLOGY FOR GLOBAL SECURITY PODCAST

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SUMMARY

Bridging The Gap: The Theory and Practice of Exposing AI to the Natural World is a Technology for Global Security Podcast series that is hosted and developed by Bryan Bailey.

The three part series encapsulates the goal of exploring AI and human decision making and the problems with getting AI in an open-world environment. The segment's themes will range over the spectrum from military, government, economics, to the myriad of sociological effects. Additionally, the three segments of the series be broken down into three backgrounds: theory, policy and technical. An additional focus of the series will be placed on policy, specifically military policy.

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THEORY SEGMENT
​Hosted by Bryan Bailey, Featuring Dr. Paul Li of The University of California, Berkeley and Dr. Joseph Cruz of Williams College.

Summary
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Cognitive Science is the study of human cognition and the nature of intelligence as exhibited by the human brain. AI that attempts to competently interact with humans must be able to learn and master tasks that are fundamental to the nature of cognition – those such as linguistics, visual perception, and proprioception. This episode will focus specifically on how AGI is attempting to overcome the problems presented by open-world scenarios, using neural network modeling and embodied cognition as grounding points for the transition of AI from closed- to open-world environments. 

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Reccomended Readings
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Cognitive Science is the study of human cognition and the nature of intelligence as exhibited by the human brain. AI that attempts to competently interact with humans must be able to learn and master tasks that are fundamental to the nature of cognition – those such as linguistics, visual perception, and proprioception. This episode will focus specifically on how AGI is attempting to overcome the problems presented by open-world scenarios, using neural network modeling and 

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FEATURED GUESTS

Paul Li - Professor Li earned his B.A. in Cognitive Neuroscience at UC Berkeley and completed his graduate studies in Neuroscience at Columbia University. He has written for Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today, and was Lumosity’s first funding research scientists from 2007 to 2009. He's been an episode consultant for THE National Geographic Channel's Emmy nominated series Brain Games, and he was a guest lecturer at several universities including Seoul National University, the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Stanford.

Joseph Cruz - Professor Cruz is a Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Williams College. He received his B.A. from Williams in Philosophy and his Doctorate in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from University of Arizona. He's been published in such journals as Philosophy Now and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He specializes in neural network modeling, body cognition, and cognitive development.

Executive Producer: Grace Farley

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POLICY SEGMENT
Hosted by Bryan Bailey

Summary
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While AI capability is improving greatly, the push for production-ready AI has caused unease by those concerned with releasing untested and unpredictable technology into ethically tenuous circumstances. How much autonomy is acceptable to give to a non-conscious entity in times of war? Who’s responsible for the mistakes made by the technology? How do policy-makers approach the ethics of AI weaponry? Is winning the AI race to the bottom worth the national security risks associated with releasing this unpredictable technology into the world? This episode will discuss where the rubber meets the road of AI research and policy, specifically as it relates to military defense strategy and the understanding of militant technology in warzones.

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Renée DiResta is the Director of Research at New Knowledge, and the Head of Policy at the nonprofit Data for Democracy. Renée investigates the spread of disinformation and malign narratives across social networks, and assists policymakers in understanding and responding to the issue. She co-founded Vaccinate California. ​

Executive Producer: Grace Farley

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TECHNICAL SEGMENT
​Hosted by Bryan Bailey

Summary
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The popularity of the singularity movement has caused great unrest in the AI community: predictions of world-changing technology range from utopian to apocalyptic scenarios. The exponential progress promised by the Law of Accelerating Returns has slowed recently however, due partly to the obstacles of the failure of Moore’s law and the practical limits of hardware development as set by Amdahl’s Law. The world is an intensely rich and complex environment, and for AI to properly interact with such a world means that extraordinary computations have to be done to account for the variability of human life and error. Autonomous drones, decision-making systems, emotive androids – this episode will take a look at how to set proper expectations, both quantitatively and qualitatively, for the AI revolution given the current standards of research being conducted. 

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