Artificiality Summit 2024 Program

Michael Levin talks about the emerging field of diverse intelligence and his frameworks for recognizing and communicating with the unconventional intelligence of cells, tissues, and biological robots. This work has led to new approaches to regenerative medicine, cancer, and bioengineering, but also to new ways to understand evolution and embodied minds. He sketches out a space of possibilities — freedom of embodiment — which facilitates imagining a hopeful future of synthbiosis, in which AI is just one of a wide range of new bodies and minds. Elena Sergeeva expands on Mike’s talk on inter-kingdom communication and biotechnology interfaces, including her work building a new generation of computer chips based on live neural tissues as a future substrate for AGI.

Steve Sloman, author of The Knowledge Illusion, catalyzes a conversation about how we perceive knowledge in ourselves, others, and now in machines. What happens when our collective knowledge includes a community of machines? Steve challenges us to think about the dynamics of knowledge and understanding in an AI-driven world, about the evolving landscape of narratives, and asks whether AI can make us believe in the ways that humans make us believe. What would it take for AI to construct a compelling ideology and belief system that humans would want to follow?

Katie Davis, author of Technology’s Child, catalyzes a session focused on what kids want and need from technology. Drawing on her concept of loose parts in play, Katie explores how AI can be designed to support children’s creativity and developmental needs. This discussion explores the playful and educational potential of AI, as well as barriers to overcome, as we imagine how AI and childhood curiosity might walk in lock-step.

Aekta Shah, Responsible AI Researcher at Salesforce, and John Pasmore, CEO and founder of Latimer.ai, set the scene with their visions of inclusive AI. Aekta begins by leading us through an inclusivity experience. John shares the journey of Latimer, a large language model built to more accurately reflect the experience, culture, and history of Black and Brown people. Both take us through their visions for AI, imagining deep inclusion, empathetic engagement, and total transparency as the path to truly inclusive AI.

Join Barbara Tversky, author of Mind in Motion and a pioneer in understanding the link between spatial reasoning and abstract thought, for a unique exploration of AI’s challenges. This session explores what AI might struggle with in the physical world, starting with something as everyday as gesturing. Barbara reveals how gestures are integral to our thinking process — how we gesture even before we think, and how sitting on our hands hampers our ability to explain. It offers a fresh perspective on cognitive processes beyond language.

Adam Cutler and Josh Lovejoy take us beyond creativity into the realm of innovation and the future of product design. In this session, Adam and Josh help us see how we can design AI in a way that fosters new and unexpected uses, especially when placed in the hands of the next generation or inventive experts who play with ideas and recombine old with new. They discuss how AI can be designed to align with users’ evolving needs and engage our metacognition.

In our closing session, we are honored to work with Don Norman, the creator of human-centered design and a man who defies categorization. Don shares his reflections on a lifetime dedicated to integrating human needs with technological advancements. What does he think of what we’ve co-created? And what does he envision for a hopeful future?

It’s going to be the future soon, so we have to start imagining a hopeful one with AI. Prepare for a dive into the world of creativity with singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton. Jonathan can’t stop singing about AI. In this session, he riffs on his dream AI collaborator for songwriting. Expect a highly interactive discussion, with perhaps some tunes, about the nature of creativity and what artists might want from AI.