Session Abstract

With the popularity of Chat-GPT and Copilots comes the inevitable speculation of where we are on the AI hype cycle. Are we dealing with "glorified statistics", or is there more to this? In this talk we'll look at the wiring under the board, and what really lies behind Large Language Models like GPT-4. After taking a broad look at Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, we'll look at principles like transfer learning, and transformer architectures. As well as the theory, we'll see how it's been applied to solving real problems. And we'll also try to get a feel for where the current AI models sit in relation to human intelligence. Finally, we'll look at the broader AI hype cycle, consider the ethical and existential risks in this rapidly moving field, and see how close we are to artificial general intelligence.

Bill Ayers

Dr Bill Ayers is a consultant developer and solution architect who has been working with computers for over 30 years. He originally earned his PhD in applications of computers in engineering before specialising in collaboration with SharePoint and more recently Microsoft 365 and Azure. He also specialises in mobile development and agile software development practices, and has been doing AI since the 1990s. He is a Microsoft Certified Master and Charter MCSM for SharePoint, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft MVP for M365 and AI Platform. He has also taken over forty Microsoft certifications and is a CompTIA CTT+ certified classroom trainer. He speaks regularly at international conferences and user groups and is based in Sheffield, UK.