MOTION:

“This House Believes AI Will Bring More Harm Than Good”

This debate was run in association with IBM Research.

Proposition:

Project Debater Project Debater is designed by IBM research. It will deliver a speech based on over 1,100 arguments collected from Union members and others over the past week. It will not be taking points of information.

Sharmila Parmanand

Sharmila Parmanand is a PhD Candidate in Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Gates Scholar. She has served as a debate trainer or chief judge in debating events in 45 countries. She served as a chief judge for most major global debating competitions (World Universities, World Schools, European Universities, Asian Universities, Austral-Asian Universities, North American Universities, and PanAmerican Universities).

Professor Neil Lawrence

Neil Lawrence is the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and the co-host of Talking Machines. Neil’s main research interest is machine learning through probabilistic models. He focuses on both the algorithmic side of these models and their application. His recent focus has been on the deployment of machine learning technology in practice, particularly under the banner of data science.

Opposition

Project Debater

Project Debater is designed by IBM research. It will deliver a speech based on over 1,100 arguments collected from Union members and others over the past week. It will not be taking points of information.

Harish Natarajan

Harish Natarajan is a graduate of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He was a grand fnalist and 2nd best speaker at the 2016 World Debating Championships and won the European Debating Championship in 2012. Harish holds the record for most competition victories. He currently works as the Head of Economic Risk Analysis at AKE International in London.

Professor Sylvie Delacroix

Sylvie Delacroix is professor in Law and Ethics at the University of Birmingham. Her work has notably been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the NHS and the Leverhulme Trust, from whom she received the Leverhulme Prize. She has recently been appointed to the Public Policy Commission on the use of algorithms in the justice system.

Website: https://www.cus.org/