The big next revolution is Artificial Intelligence (AI). It can make our lives easier, but at the same time there are risks involved. "We need to work on the social impact of AI to make sure it is applied in our society in a way we find acceptable," says Erasmus Professor Moniek Buijzen. Together with students, artists and residents of Rotterdam-Zuid, she talks about how we use art to narrow the gap between citizens and AI.
"AI is going to change the world, the question is mainly: how?", says student Aki Negate. He is active in AICON, a project that connects Rotterdammers, artists and scientists on an equal footing. The aim is to familiarise everyone with AI, what you can do with it and, above all, what you want to do with it. "So that it is not determined for people, but they can determine it for themselves."
Aki Negate and Moniek Buijzen talk about how AICON makes the connection:
AI makes one city portrait of all residents
Farshida Zafar, then director of Erasmus X and now of Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, connects residents, artists and students at the HefHouse in Rotterdam-Zuid: "to include them into the story, so that AI does not happen to them." Led by artist Peim van der Sloot, residents make self-portraits. These are digitised and, using AI, all those self-portraits are merged into one portrait: the cityportrait. "Through this project, we discovered that Artificial Intelligence belongs to all of us," says Harun Senih Sevinc, student and resident of Rotterdam-Zuid.
See how the cityscape is created:
Help AI to help us move forward
Burhan Carlak, a social entrepreneur in Rotterdam-Zuid, uses AI to optimise the balance in his coral. He stepped into the HefFouse to better understand AI and how it can empower us in what we already do. A perfect example of how AI makes things better and helps us move forward, according to Farshida Zafar: "Based on certain datasets, AI can come up with conclusions or solutions that we ourselves would not have thought of so quickly."
Watch Burhan Carlak and Farshida Zafar's story at AICON:
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere. Whether it is shopping or going out, managing our work or streaming a show on Netflix - AI has dramatically changed our daily lives, both on a personal and professional level. Our scientists regularly conduct research on this topic. Curious about what is going on within this topic? Read on in our dossier on Artificial Intelligence.
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Read all about the Erasmus Initiative 'Societal Impact of AI'
