Billed as the first of what will be similar quarterly events, innovators, entrepreneurs, and business owners learned the latest trends in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Oct. 3 at the NeoCity campus. The guest speaker was Dr. Alex Alemi, a Kissimmeebased Research Scientist at Google Deepmind, whose current focus is the intersection of Information Theory and Deep Learning.
Dr. Alemi explained, in the basic sense, how AI works, being a text prediction function that reads the internet more than anything else. He stressed how the more developed the questions, called “prompts” to an AI program, the better the potential results. Still, AI is occasionally subject to give answers like “Use glue” when asked for ways to keep toppings on pizza.
Alemi also addressed some of the hype and misinformation surrounding AI, stating it should not bring about the end of the world, and neither will it create an environment as close to perfect as possible.
“AI is a tool we should control, it has to be trained, so we can make it compliant to our wishes through the language models we use to train it,” said Alemi.
He also emphasized using AI to gather information needed to make decisions, but do not rely on AI to make those decisions.
“Each year I am surprised by an advancement in an area of AI, but at the same time, I still see some limitations that still show the need for human oversight. Try asking AI about something you really know well, and then consider that whenever you use AI in areas you are not familiar,” said Alemi, in response to a question on what he saw as the future of AI.
The question of sustainability in AI came from one audience member. Currently, an AI search uses 30 percent more energy than a standard Google search, and AI data centers have enormous appetites for electricity for operation and water for cooling.
Prior to Dr. Alemi’s presentation, as part of the program introduction, participants viewed a video detailing the efforts of NeoCity’s trusted technology realization partner SkyWater Technology, and Deca Technologies, a leading provider of advanced electronic interconnect technology, in a new Department of Defense (DOD) effort to expand domestic fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) capabilities for both government and commercial customers. The packaging operation eliminates the current need to send trusted chips, securely manufactured in the U.S., overseas to be packaged together to achieve greater efficiencies and save apace. The effort is part of the solutions needed to support the reshoring of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain.
For more information on NeoCity and its partners see https://bit.ly/3XvJxWA.
