IIIM News

News about the institution, its research & recent advances

Tech Leaders establish 23 Principles for ensuring Beneficial A.I.

Spiraling clockwise from top left to center: Dr. Demis Hassabis of DeepMind, inventor Dr. Ray Kurzweil, Dr. Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT, LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman, Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt, Dr. Andrew McAfee of MIT, IIIM Director Dr. Kristinn R. Thórisson, Dr. Stuart Russell of UC Berkeley, Dr. Max Tegmark of MIT, and venture capitalist and Skype creator Jaan Tallin.

Some of the world’s most prominent AI and high-tech leaders assembled in Asilomar, California this January, to discuss opportunities and challenges related to the future of AI and steps we can take to ensure that the technology is beneficial for everyone. Among the 150 participants were IIIM’s Director Kristinn R. Thórisson, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, inventor Ray Kurzweil and Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt.

The five-day conference, titled ‘Beneficial AI 2017’ (BAI), was hosted by The Future of Life Institute and brought together a select group of AI researchers and thought leaders from academia and industry. The question of how to align artificial intelligence with human values was tackled from different angles, drawing on the attendees’ broad range of expertise in economics, law, ethics, and philosophy.

The conference brought forth a list of principles for guiding the development of safe and beneficial AI technologies in the coming decades. Continue reading Tech Leaders establish 23 Principles for ensuring Beneficial A.I.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Biotechnology: Striking a Balance of Power

Will future developments in military technology lead to disparity that threatens the balance of power in the socio-political arena? This is the main question asked by Tony Cartalucci in the article  Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Biotechnology: Striking a Balance of Power -published on the site of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

The balance of power referred to in the article denotes the diminishing disparity between nations in terms of military power, economic power and cultural influences. It is a disparity made possible by pioneering and monopolizing a technology and tactics which gives those in favour an immediate advantage over those who do not possess the same assets.

Continue reading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Biotechnology: Striking a Balance of Power

Threadneedle: Simulating the Financial System

Dr. Jacky Mallett. Photo: Morgunblaðið/Ófeigur.

Threadneedle was featured today in Morgunblaðið (Morning Paper) with an interview with IIIM’s Dr. Jacky Mallett – the scientist behind the software.

Threadneedle is a simulation framework developed to explore the behaviour of the banking system. It is based on a double entry book-keeping engine which reproduces the same monetary transactions used in modern banking. Threadneedle is the world’s first ‘atomic level’ simulation of the banking and financial system, and is meant to help us understand how the underlying mechanisms of the monetary system influence the behaviour of the whole economy.

Dr. Mallett goes over what  initially led her to work on the simulation and how it could benefit regulators and economists of the future.

Read the interview here and for more information about the project visit the Threadneedle web page.