We are in the puberty of AI in society says Pegasystems AI expert

In our latest video interview, we spoke to Peter van der Putten of Pegasystems; he told us that we are in the puberty of AI.

Melvin Kranzberg once said: “Technology is neither good nor bad, neither is it mutual.” The same applies to AI, says Peter van der Putten, Director,  Decisioning and AI Solutions Pegasystems, and Assistant Professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Creative Research.

Mr van der Putten added: “AI learns from data, and the same techniques can be used to say find a cure for cancer or do something evil. The application is never neutral.”

In our latest video interview, we spoke to the AI guru on a wide range of topics covering AI, including:

• ethical use of AI
• AI and bias
• explainable AI
• whether AI gives us a better understanding of intelligence
• whether AI can police itself
• three ways AI can benefit humanity
• how AI has impacted the world.

We also talk about why technological singularity is not new and why we have seen multiple mini technological singularities occur in the past.

Best quote: “Hollywood has popularised a meme about robots taking over the world. But for me, AI is not just about the 'F' for fear, but 'F' for fascination. We are fascinated by AI because we are fascinated by ourselves, and questions (of this nature) go back to the Neanderthals."

“We can’t always predict the consequences of building AI applications…but we are an adaptive species. So there is the risk of “sticking our heads in the sand.”