ai@cam at the AI Fringe

Ahead of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s AI Safety Summit, members of the public are being invited to ‘hop on a bus’ in Cambridge city centre to discuss their hopes and fears about the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in our lives.

Cambridge has been home to some of the leading thinkers in AI research and a recent report named it the most ‘AI-ready’ city in the UK. So what better place to bring together experts and the public for an open discussion about AI?

As part of a collaboration between ai@cam, the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public, and the Accelerate Programme for Scientific Discovery, the public will be given a unique opportunity to share their views with leading researchers involved in the development, application and implications of AI… on board a pair of bespoke double decker buses parked on Parker’s Piece in central Cambridge.

The buses will host the Kavli Centre’s Hopes and Fears Lab – an artist-designed , pop-up conversation experiment made of cardboard to encourage people to think outside the box on the big scientific developments that are shaping society. It will be repeated – minus the buses – at the British Library the following week (1 November) as an official part of the AI Fringe taking place around the summit In particular, the members of The People’s Panel on AI will be visiting the Lab as part of their deliberations.

In Cambridge, when people jump on board, they will be asked if they have a particular topic they’d like to discuss and will then be introduced to one of the AI researchers for a 15-minute conversation. The main themes for discussion will centre on topics that directly affect our everyday life including AI and work, AI and creativity, AI and health, AI and education, and AI and security.

The Lab will come to London on 1 November at the Living Centre, where members of Connected by Data’s Citizen’s Panel on the AI Summit will join discussions. The Panel will deliberate across the week of the Summit, reviewing discussions at the Fringe and outputs from the Summit itself, giving a view on how AI policy could better serve public interests.