The House of Lords Artificial Intelligence Committee
will be meeting with Government Ministers on Tuesday 12 December
to discuss the Government’s policy response to artificial
intelligence (AI) in the UK. The Committee will also be holding
another session on 12 December, looking at the education of AI
and digital skills in the UK.
In addition, the Committee will be holding an
evidence session on Wednesday 13 December 2017 with Dr Jérôme
Pesenti, CEO, Benevolent Technology, BenevolentAI and co-Chair of
the Government’s Growing the artificial intelligence
industry in the UK review, published in October 2017,
to discuss that review and the future of its
recommendations.
At 3.30pm on Tuesday 12
December the Committee will take evidence
from:
-
Professor Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner
Centred Design, UCL Institute of Education
Professor Luckin has been developing and writing about the
learning sciences, educational technology and AI in education
(AIEd) for over 20 years. Her research explores how to increase
participation by teachers and learners in the design and use of
technologies. She is the author of Re-Designing Learning
Contexts (Routledge, 2010) and lead author of the influential
Decoding Learning report (Nesta, 2012).
-
Miles Berry, Principal Lecturer, School of
Education, University of Roehampton
Miles Berry’s principal research focus is on pedagogies for
computing education. He has contributed to projects such as:
the national curriculum computing programmes of study, BBC
Bitesize primary computing resources, QuickStart Computing for
the British Computer Society (BCS) and Microsoft, and Hello
World, a magazine by and for computing and digital making
educators.
-
Graham Brown-Martin, author and
entrepreneur
Mr Brown-Martin is a leader in the field of foresight and
anticipatory research, bringing together social, political and
technological trends to consider how we might prepare ourselves
for the future. He is the author of Learning {Re}imagined, a
best-selling book on global education.
Questions the Committee is likely to ask
include:
-
What does AI mean for education in the UK? Do we
need to re-think how and what is taught at schools to take
account of AI, or is the current approach the correct
one?
-
What should the appropriate balance be between
computer science and other subjects at schools?
-
How can it be ensured that the arts and humanities,
which may become even more important with an increasing focus
on creativity in the workplace, are not crowded out by computer
science and other technical and scientific
subjects?
-
What is deterring girls from getting, and staying,
interested in computer science?
At 4.30pm:
-
The Rt Hon. MP, Minister of State for
Digital, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(DCMS)
Mr Hancock is the MP for West Suffolk, having been elected
in 2010. Since July 2016 he has served at DCMS as Minister of
State for Digital and is responsible for broadband,
broadcasting, creative industries, cyber and the tech
industry.
-
, Parliamentary
Under-Secretary, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy (BEIS)
is a Conservative member
of the House of Lords. He was appointed as a BEIS minister on
27 October 2017. The Department for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy brings together responsibilities for
business, industrial strategy, science, innovation, energy, and
climate change.
Questions the Committee is likely to ask
include:
-
Does the UK need a specific and standalone strategy
on AI?
-
How can the recently announced AI institutions
interact but not overlap with one another?
-
How are the Government's AI-related policies going
to make a difference to non-technology focused
SMEs?
-
Given the possible impact of artificial
intelligence on the labour market, is the Government
considering how to mitigate this now?
-
What assessment has the Government made of existing
regulations related to AI to ensure that they are fit for
purpose, now and in the future?
On Wednesday 13 December
2017 the Committee will take evidence at 2.05pm
from:
-
Dr Jérôme Pesenti, CEO, Benevolent
Technology, BenevolentAI and co-Chair of the
Government’s Growing the artificial intelligence
industry in the UKreview, published in October
2017.
Dr Pesenti is a world leading pioneer in AI and has been
focused on big data and machine learning for the past 16 years.
He joined BenevolentAI from IBM Watson where he created and led
the development of the Watson Platform—a set of cloud services
leveraging natural language processing and machine learning
that allows developers around the world to embed AI
technologies into their applications.
Questions the Committee is likely to ask
include:
-
Are you satisfied with the Government’s response to
the Review?
-
How could the implementation of the review’s
recommendations be measured successfully?
-
Is there a risk that the UK is being overly
cautious in its approach to AI?
These evidence sessions will take place at
3.30pm on Tuesday 12 December in Committee Room 4A and at 2.05pm
on Wednesday 13 December 2017 in Committee Room 2 of the House of
Lords.
