IBM Research Vice President impresses at this year’s Turing Lecture

On Tuesday 21st February, Cardiff University hosted Dr Guruduth Banavar; the Vice President of IBM Research as guest speaker for this year's BCS Turing Lecture.

The Turing Lecture is a series of talks that were established by the British Computer Society (BCS) in 1999 recognition of Alan Turing's OBE contribution to the field of computing. They offer an invaluable insight into key Computer Science developments and future trends from world-leading industry experts.

Dr Banavar, who is responsible for advancing the next generation of cognitive technologies and solutions with IBM's global scientific ecosystem delivered a fascinating lecture entitled 'Beneficial Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Advancement of Humankind'. His talk intelligently addressed the sometimes controversial topic of AI and not only how it can be beneficial to human advancement, but also the challenges that it will inevitably face as it develops further.

He placed great emphasis on utilising machines to complement human progression by combining the strengths from both humans and AI to enhance human expertise in every industry, from healthcare to financial services to the education sector.

Dr Banavar concluded the lecture by suggesting that the major technology corporations must work together to “develop AI systems in responsible and enduring ways to benefit and advance all of humanity” and that a combination of intelligence from both humans and machines will enable us to make better decisions as one.

This year’s lecture proved to be a great success on a truly fascinating subject area. The lecture will continue onwards to Dublin and then finally Belfast before planning starts on the next series of talks in 2018.