Events ‎ > ‎ Artificial Intelligence - September 2015 September is Artificial Intelligence month! Join us this month as we explore the topic of artificial intelligence from fiction to fact in a series of entertaining and enlightening events -- intended to give anyone a practical understanding of this amazing field.

The events stand alone-- so everyone is welcome to arrive with nothing more than an open mind... we recommend, however, that you attend the entire series to explore the concept thoroughly!

Seating is limited for all events, so RSVP at Meetup early to make sure you can attend !

2015.09.10 - EX_Machina AI month kicks off with a screening of EX_MACHNINA A 2015 film written and directed by Alex Garland.

"An artificial intelligence student is chosen to interact with a female A.I. robot prototype named Ava to test for its self awareness by the companies owner Nathan. During the course of the test h feels pity for Ava and plots her escape from Nathan's facility. However Nathan believes that Ava is manipulating him to escape. In the end who is telling the truth, only time will tell."

Hang out after the movie to discuss the movie and how Artificial Intelligence is portrayed in this and other works of fiction.

Pizza, bread sticks, salad, and soft drinks are included for the price of admission ($17)





2015.09.24 - SUPERINTELLIGENCE The TC+ book club will review SUPERINTELLIGENCE Paths, Dangers, Strategies - By Nick Bostrom . Synopsis: It is unknown whether human-level artificial intelligence will arrive in a matter of years, later this century, or not until future centuries. Regardless of the initial timescale, once human-level machine intelligence is developed, a "superintelligent" system that "greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest" would follow surprisingly quickly, possibly even instantaneously. Such a superintelligence would be difficult to control or restrain. Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life. Its a very dense read, so don't wait too long to get started!

2015.09.28 - Will Artificial Intelligence benefit humanity or end the human race? with special guest Maria Gini Artificial Intelligence has made incredible progress in the last few years and is reaching the point where it has the potential to impact society in major ways. In the future intelligent systems and robots will become part of our daily lives, helping us with routine tasks, handling dangerous jobs, and keeping us company. But they could also become capable of making decisions that violate our ethical principles, take control of our lives, and disrupt society. In this talk we will explore the state of the art in intelligent systems and discuss future developments and open challenges.



TwinCities+ round table events:



Our round table events are group discussions intended to encourage debate and collaboration. They typically begin with a short presentation to ensure all participants have a common vocabulary and basic understanding of the topic. After the presentation, the discussion is opened to the table



After her presentation, Maria will take questions from participants. This is a unique opportunity to draw from Maria's extensive experience to learn about this amazing field. Maria Gini is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota, where she is a Distinguished Professor of the College of Science and Engineering. She studies decision making for autonomous agents in a variety of applications, ranging from distributed methods for allocation of tasks, to robot exploration, and teamwork for search and rescue applications. She is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the winner of numerous University awards.

2015.10.03 - SOFTWARE SIMULATED NEURAL NETWORKS IN RASPBERRY PI

NO prior knowledge, experience, or equipment required! Participants will be supplied with a Raspberry Pi 2b... fully configured to begin creating and training your own neural networks.



During the event, we will detail the basic concepts involved with neural networks in both living organisms and computer systems. We'll talk about how a learning network can overcome problems and complete tasks that have traditionally required a human being to complete.



We will provide an option for those that already own a Raspberry Pi. If this is you, it is important to understand that the older generations of the Pi are less powerful and may not be as capable of this kind of processing as the newer versions.