Description of talk – Speaker - Cade Metz

AI has come of age after decades of skepticism thanks to the persistence of a maverick group of idealistic academics.

Following years in the wilderness this group have been scooped up by some of the most powerful companies on Earth, racing to dominate the next decades of technology.

Join New York Times’ reporter Cade Metz on May 12 for a conversation and audience Q&A about Genius Makers, his new book giving the inside story on these scientists and the incredible events placing them at the center of a revolution re-shaping society.

Cade and TNMOC will highlight the role of two central characters - Geoff Hinton and Demis Hassabis, UK academics from different generations snapped up by Google.

They will discuss:

How Hinton, the father of deep learning, spent 50 years pursuing the idea of the neural network and the significance of his role in making this important technology finally work.

The fascinating life and career of Hassabis, a former child-chess genius whose DeepMind beat one of the world’s top players of the ancient game of Go in 2016 - an event decades sooner than expected and regarded as an inflection point for AI.

The fast-paced competition between the technology giants of Silicon Valley to dominate this new frontier and the battle between China and the West.

The rise of AGI - a machine that can do anything the human brain can do.

Drawing on eight years of experience covering artificial intelligence as a reporter for the New York Times, Metz will tell a story no one else can: he will bring an insider’s perspective on the seismic moments and the chance meetings that have changed everything for technology and society.