Lucid Selects New Member To Join Ethics Advisory Panel

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucid welcomes its newest member to the Ethics Advisory Panel, Dr. Adrian Weller. With this addition, the panel is seven members strong, with a diverse set of backgrounds and interests including children's rights, philosophy, artificial intelligence (AI) and international law. Dr. Weller is a senior research fellow in the Machine Learning Group at the University of Cambridge, where he will be coordinating the Trust and Transparency project at the new Leverhulme Center for the Future of Intelligence.

Dr. Weller is also an advisor to the Center for Science and Policy and the Center for the Study of Existential Risk, both of which are based at the University of Cambridge. Before he joined the faculty at Cambridge, Dr. Weller held senior positions at Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers and Citadel Investment Group. He holds a doctorate in computer science from Columbia University, and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

"Dr. Weller's background in finance, an industry in which AI will play an ever-increasing part, makes him a vital addition to our ethics panel," said Kay Firth-Butterfield, chief officer of the Lucid Ethics Advisory Panel. "By consistently bringing new expertise to our team, we can continue to educate ourselves and others on the importance of ethical AI, and ensure fresh thinking."

"It is important for us all to attempt to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of technology, particularly with regard to AI. Lucid deserves much praise for publicly embracing this urgent need, and I am delighted to be joining its Ethics Advisory Panel," Dr. Weller said. "I look forward to sharing knowledge and insight from the University of Cambridge, which will be launching a new research center, with the support of the Leverhulme Trust, later this year to study the implications of AI in depth."

Driven by the fundamental belief in the power for AI to improve lives, Lucid's Ethics Advisory Panel helps ensure this vision becomes a reality. Panel members are dedicated researchers who explore AI challenges specific to their areas of expertise, and work to educate the Lucid team on how to identify and overcome potential ethical challenges that accompany the technology and its applications. Looking ahead, Lucid aims for the panel to represent 12 priority disciplines with the greatest potential to be affected by AI. They are artificial intelligence, economics, history, policy, children's rights, international relations, international law, humanitarianism, philosophy, national and international politics/law, cognitive sciences, and business. Currently, Lucid is recruiting for panel members with expertise in the remaining disciplines.

Kay Firth-Butterfield, the chief officer for the Ethics Advisory Panel, has worked for the past three decades as a barrister, mediator, arbitrator, business owner, professor and judge in the United Kingdom. In the United States, she has taught classes at the undergraduate and law school levels. In her role as chief officer of the EAP she has advised governments, think tanks and nonprofits about artificial intelligence. She has helped to create the Consortium for Law and Policy of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the Strauss Center, University of Texas. Also, she teaches the first course of the Consortium: Artificial Intelligence and Other Emerging Technologies: Legal and Policy Issues.

Ethics Advisory Panel Members

Liz Gibbons spent most of her career in the United Nations Children's Fund, and has lived and worked in Africa, Haiti and Guatemala. From these experiences Gibbons has developed a keen awareness of global and local forces that both advance and undermine the wellbeing of children. She is an author and contributed to the U.N. Security Council's reform. Currently a senior fellow at Harvard University's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Gibbons continues her work for the U.N. as a consultant, most recently for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

John Harris is a philosopher and author who has specialized in the philosophical aspects of enhancing humans, and using biotechnology to assist humans to have better lives. Previously, he was a Lord David Alliance Professor of Bioethics and director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester. Harris has worked on regulations in many aspects of bioethics, including the long-running debate about the regulation of mitochondrial DNA. He has advised the World Health Organization, the EU and the U.K. government and is a frequent contributor to TV, radio and news media on bioethics.

Derek Jinks is an author and lawyer specializing in international law. Currently, Jinks is the Marrs McLean Professor in Law, and a senior fellow at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas. Before, he served as the Charles H. Stockton Professor of international law at the U.S. Naval War College. His research and teaching interests include public international law, international humanitarian law, human rights law and criminal law.

Murray Shanahan is an AI expert and professor of cognitive robotics at Imperial College in London. Through Shanahan, Imperial College is part of the consortium that includes the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Berkeley to create the Leverhulme Center for the Future of Intelligence. The center provides grant funding of academic projects in AI in the U.K. Shanahan is the author of many books and papers, and the film "Ex Machina" was inspired by his book "Embodiment and the Inner Life."

Max Tegmark is an author and professor of physics at MIT. He is also the co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, which catalyzes and supports research and initiatives for safeguarding life and developing optimistic visions of the future, including positive ways for humanity to steer its own course considering new technologies and challenges. Tegmark is an author of more than 200 technical papers, and is featured in dozens of science documentaries. Before moving to his current position at MIT, he worked as a research associate with the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, and as a Hubble Fellow and member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. 

Adrian Weller is an author and senior researcher in the Machine Learning Group at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Weller joined the group at Cambridge in October 2014, after receiving a Ph.D. in computer science, specializing in machine learning, at Columbia University. Most of his academic research relates to graphical models, but he is also interested in other areas including finance, natural or artificial intelligence, evolution, Bayesian methods, time series analysis, ethics, music, and methods for big data. 

About Lucid

Lucid is an artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Austin, Texas, with the privilege and responsibility of globally commercializing the Cyc intelligence platform. As the world's smartest AI for the enterprise, Cyc software provides insights along with rationale, enabling organizations to make informed business decisions. This AI has been licensed to more than 300 projects in government and commercial organizations. Ready to solve the world's most complex problems, Lucid is committed to discovering new ways for AI to improve lives. 

SOURCE Lucid