On 16 October we held our second Kennedy Conversation event at the Royal Society. Alumni (from those who were part of the first cohort of Kennedy Scholars in 1966, to those who were studying in Cambridge just last year), guests and friends gathered to hear a panel of experts from the Kennedy scholar community discuss the “New Frontier” in Artificial Intelligence.
Our panellists were:
Nikhila Ravi, (H,16-17) Research Engineer and Manager at Meta AI. Nikhila’s team recently released the Segment Anything Model (SAM): a new AI model that can “cut out” any object, in any image, with a single click.
Matthew Clifford (MIT, 08-09) Co-founder and Chair of Entrepreneur First and Chair of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency. In 2023 Matt led the preparations and negotiations for the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park as the Prime Minister’s Representative.
Professor Andrew Blake (MIT, 77-78) A pioneer in the development of the theory and algorithms that can make it possible for computers to behave as seeing machines. Andrew was formerly Research Director at The Alan Turing Institute and held the position of Microsoft Distinguished Scientist and Laboratory Director of Microsoft Research.
Nikhila, Matthew and Andrew brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table, which made for a highly engaging discussion, with themes including the rise of AI, its role and recent recognition on the world stage and the importance and implications of AI in our both our personal and professional lives.
The discussion was moderated by Shashank Joshi (H, 07-08), the defence editor at The Economist and a visiting senior research fellow at King’s College London, who expertly chaired the evening, drawing fascinating perspectives, experiences and anecdotes from our panel.
That we can convene such leading voices from the industry, academia and government to share their insights with us is a testament to both the impact of the scholarship and the incredible achievements of our community. We are hugely grateful to for all involved for giving their time to inform, educate and entertain us.
More photos from the evening can be found at: Kennedy Event – October 2024.
