1. How did you get into the profession?
My career has taken a fairly winding route! My background as an academic researcher was initially focussed on renewable energy policy, before working in the area of health informatics for a number of years, and then focussing on the role of AI in banking.
Now, as an Ethics Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute my work looks broadly at ethical and social considerations around advances in AI. The thread that ties all this together is a central focus on responsible innovation, particularly in relation to new or contentious technologies.
2. What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
AI is a fast-paced area and one that is impacting all sectors and industries.
In my role I aim to inform ethical and responsible innovation practices to ensure that the benefits of AI are realised and are shared equitably across society.
The enthusiasm with which many organisations are increasingly engaging with ethics in relation to AI is incredibly rewarding, though I think there is still much to be done to place ethics at the heart of innovation.
3. Who or what inspires you to be even better?
At The Alan Turing Institute I lead a stream of work on AI and children.
As part of this work we have a two year collaboration with the Children’s Parliament and Scottish AI Alliance, where we are engaging with children aged 8 – 12 to explore their views on AI and how they would like to be involved in shaping the future of AI.
These children are truly inspirational. They demonstrate the importance of having wider conversations about AI and the value of involving children in decision-making processes, and they also have many insightful and creative ideas about ways that AI could be developed and used for good.
4. What key trends do you think we will see in AI in the coming year?
There is a lot of excitement about multi-modal Generative AI, and we will certainly see some interesting developments in this area.
But I hope we will move beyond the hype and sensationalism that has so far surrounded Generative AI, instead I’d like to see AI systems being developed and deployed based on sound understandings of the limitations of those technologies and focus on developing AI tools that can support in particular – mostly mundane – tasks to complement human capacities and expertise.
5. What do you want visitors to take away from your session at Accountex?
In my talk I will be aiming to cut through some of the hype and sensationalism around AI, so I hope people come away with a better understanding of the realities, risks and limitations of AI.
But while I will talk about risks and limitations, I see this as being about creating the right conditions to innovate responsibly and effectively, so I hope people will feel excited about AI and inspired to engage further in this area.
Mhairi will be delivering the seminar ‘Addressing the real risks of AI’ at the ‘Orbit’ theatre at 2pm on 15 May.
She will also part of the panel ‘Harnessing AI – practical applications for today INSTEAD OF tomorrow’ at the ‘Disruptors’ theatre at 12pm on 16 May.
Accountex London is taking place on the 15-16 May 2024 at ExCeL.