Our current best theory of what mind is and you areis the “Computational Theory of Mind.” It says that your mind is a computer. However, that doesn’t mean you have a CPU, RAM, and hard disk. Come along to learn what it really means for your calculator, your phone, and for YOU to be a computer.

This is not a talk about machine learning algorithms, it’s more about what it means to be a thinking machine. It’s not only about helping computers think more like us, but also helping us to understand that we are more like computers. It will help you prepare for the coming wave of “thinking machines.”

AI/ML software has already beaten the world’s best humans at Chess, Jeopardy, Go, and some video games, and now it’s learning how to play games from scratch, writing text, writing code, and more. As a result, it’s also time for us to start talking more about “machine with minds.”

This talk will also hypothesise about what it means for a computer (and you) to be aware, self-aware, to have free will, and to feel like we do, i.e. to have a mind. It combines research in Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, even and some Philosophy of Mind.

The speaker has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence (including Cognitive Science and Neuroscience) from UNSW. They have written and published research and conference papers on AI. They have provided advice and guidance to AI startups, and to organisations keen to use AI to improve their operations.