Find out what we’re doing to further understanding about how we maximise the opportunities AI offers, while minimising risk. Artificial intelligence is already bringing many benefits to our society. It is central to new healthcare technologies that can perform better than humans at early diagnosis of disease. It is opening up new approaches to natural disaster preparedness and recovery. It has a role to play in climate change and can drive efficiencies and innovation in business and in public services. But with advancement comes risk. Irresponsible development or deployment of new AI technologies may undermine confidence in the new technologies, while too much unnecessary regulation may hamper the potential positive impact of AI. To get the balance right, we will need more leaders with the skills and knowledge to be able to understand and predict the ethical and technical challenges, so we can maximise the opportunities AI can offer without causing societal harm. What we're doing The University of Edinburgh is a pioneer in AI research and teaching, beginning its programme in the 1960s and continuing when the field fell out of favour in the 1980s. Today, we continue our commitment to AI research, and remain a centre of excellence. Our School of Informatics is one of the leading centres for AI in Europe and we produce more high-quality AI research than any other university in the UK. Our academic diversity means that we can bring together communities of researchers across computer science, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, law, social sciences, and more, to explore the opportunities and challenges ahead. As a global institution with the potential to influence and shape understanding in this field, we also have a responsibility to apply that knowledge in ways that will make our world better and contribute to a fairer, safer world. Here’s just a snapshot of our activity. Navigating AI ethics Rapidly evolving technological change poses new ethical questions. Led by Professor Shannon Vallor, the Baillie Gifford Chair in Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence, our Centre for Technomoral Futures is building expertise in new models of research, education and engagement to directly serve the goals of sustainable, just and ethical innovation. The centre’s portfolio of activities focuses on the ethical implications of present and future advances in AI, machine learning and other data-driven technologies. Find out about the Centre for Technomoral Futures Developing trustworthy autonomous systems Autonomous systems are increasingly becoming part of our normality, from relying on reminders from Alexa in our own homes to travelling in aircraft governed by autopilot. Yet the policy and regulatory environment for this technological advancement is underdeveloped. Edinburgh is part of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Programme, leading the Governance and Regulation Node. Working with a consortium of researchers from six universities, Professor Subramanian Ramamoorthy is leading the development of novel software engineering and governance methodology for regulation of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS). Helping computers speak to humans We have one of the largest research groups in the world for natural language processing, the branch of AI that explores how computers can understand, interpret and analyse human language. In the last ten years, we’ve produced more papers in this field than any other University in the world. Our UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Natural Language Processing is equipping students with the fundamental skills for advanced research, with the aim of developing future leaders in the field. Edinburgh’s supercomputing centre, EPCC, has added a selection of the world’s fastest AI computer, Cerebras CS-1, to its facility, enabling us to advance our research in natural language processing for global and industry interest. Support us If you’d like to learn more about what we’re doing in this field and how you can contribute, partner us, or get involved, please get in touch. Ellie Maizels Head of Philanthropy, College of Science and Engineering Contact details Email: ellie.maizels@ed.ac.uk This article was published on 2024-10-29
