A lecturer from Keele’s School of Computing and Mathematics was invited to the prestigious Royal Institution to share his expertise on the future of artificial intelligence (AI) recently.

Dr Adam Stanton was invited to be part of a discussion panel, which was hosted by the renowned scientific institute in London in partnership with The Conversation.

Dr Stanton was joined by Professor Dame Wendy Hall, from the University of Southampton, Professor Bradley Love, from University College London and Dr Raia Hadsell, DeepMind, to talk about the future of artificial general intelligence (AGI); a term which refers to AI that performs well in many different tasks, at a level comparable to people or animals.

The 250-strong audience at the Royal Institution listened to discussions from the panel covering topics like how we might reach AGI, what it might look like, and what the risks and mitigations might be.

There were also discussions on the social effects and public policy around near-term AI as well as more speculative issues relating to AGI.

Dr Stanton said that being asked to be part of the panel was a great opportunity to cement Keele’s presence in the field of AI, saying: "It was thrilling to be in the Royal Institution, talking about a subject I love with awesome panellists and a fantastic audience.

“Promoting Keele's research in evolutionary systems and our vision of the development of general artificial intelligence to members of the public, in the home of science outreach in the UK, was both a privilege and a wonderful experience."