The Algorithmic Futures Podcast

Engineers use STEM skills (and beyond) to solve problems – but what does a career in engineer look like? How do we attract students to careers in engineering? How do we foster and support diversity and inclusion in the engineering workforce? And finally, how do we train engineers to manage the increase in complexity that comes with emergent technologies like artificial intell...

What does it take to regulate artificial intelligence? We invited Professor Geoff Mulgan of University College London, author of When Science Meets Power (Polity Press) and many other titles, to help us unpack the possibilities. Listen in as he draws on his background in technology, governance, academia, and beyond to consider this multidimensional challenge and offer some t...

This month, we chat with Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist and science communicator with a passion for creatively making use of technology for her work in wildlife conservation. We learn all about how she uses drones to survey the health of whales in transit and what research like this is telling us about these magnificent creatures. We also get into a wide-ranging discussion about life in science as a woman in STEM and in a...

What are AI standards – and why should we care? Our guest today, Dr Kobi Leins, has first-hand experience as both contributor to the development of AI standards for the world and a professional working on supporting safe AI in real world industry contexts. We talk about what AI standards are for and why the discussion and work feeding into standards – and AI development and deployment more broadly – matters for us all. It’s the kin...

The idea that artificial intelligence is taking our jobs can be scary – but in actuality, there are cases where this is a good thing. Dr Sara Webb (Swinburne University of Technology) shares one of these stories in today’s episode, which begins with a TedX talk in Melbourne and ends with a discussion of some of the many ways techniques developed for astrophysics are transform...

In the age of DALL-E and Stable Diffusion, what counts as art? And what can art tell us about AI? In this episode, we explore these questions and more with the help of Eryk Salvaggio, a US-based artist, designer and researcher whose work explores the fabric of artificial intelligence -- and often playfully defies its boundaries. 

Credits

Guest – Eryk Salvaggio

Hosts – Zena Assaad and Liz Williams

Producers – Robbie Slape, Zena Assa...

It is the launch of season 3 of this podcast, and we thought it was high time for a positionality statement – er, episode. Why not align it with the start of a new season and our debut on YouTube? Listen in for an episode featuring our co-hosts, Liz Williams and Zena Assaad, in which we explore everything from relics, reactions, reciprocity, risk, and the complexities involve...

In our final episode of season 2, we are grateful to be joined by Damith Herath, Associate Professor of Robotics and Art at the University of Canberra. Damith is a multi-talented roboticist with a long history of working in the art world, and an interest in understanding how to shape human-robot collaboration in real-world environments. During our conversation, Damith talks to us about how his innate drive to experiment with elect...

What does responsibility look like in military contexts – and how do you think about encoding it in autonomous military technologies with the capacity to harm? In today’s episode, we explore this topic from a legal perspective with the help of Lauren Sanders. Lauren is a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland with expertise in international criminal law, inter...

In this episode, we explore the “nuclear mindset” – a term being thrown around in discussions about Australia’s plans to acquire conventionally-armed, nuclear powered submarines as part of the AUKUS trilateral partnership between the US, UK, and Australia. With the help of Veronica Taylor, Will Grant, and Ed Simpson, guest co-host AJ Mitchell and I explore what a nuclear mindset might look like, and discuss how we can help train a ...

Our episode today features Tracey Spicer, award winning journalist, author, and social justice advocate who begins this episode with a story from her own life: her son, after watching an episode of South Park, declared “Mum, I want a robot slave.” This declaration prompted Tracey to begin a seven-year journey exploring how society shapes the technology we surround ourselves with, and how technology in turn shapes us. Her findings a...

You have probably heard of ChatGPT – the generative AI language model that is already transforming work and education. In this episode, we explore the many potential benefits and challenges ChatGPT and models like it pose for education and law with the help of Simon Chesterman, author of We, the Robots? Regulating Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of the Law, David Marsh...

What does human flourishing have to do with human-machine teams? And how do we meaningfully engage stakeholders in consultations about some of the most challenging problems of our time? Listen in as we explore some of these questions with Kate Devitt, co-founder and CEO of BetterBeliefs – a platform for evidence-based stakeholder engagement and decision-making – who also happ...

Most of us have a vested interest in what happens in space – whether we know it or not. Listen in as we talk to Cassandra Steer, Deputy Director of the Australian National University Institute for Space – or ANU InSpace, for short – about space law, diversity and inclusivity in the space sector, and why having diverse perspectives contribute to Australia’s future in space is ...

Our second episode of Season 2 features Sue Keay. Sue is currently the robotics technology lead at OZ Minerals, Chair and Founder of Robotics Australia Group, and is a member of the Advisory Committee for ...

Our first episode of Season 2 features Julie Carpenter, author of Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarised Spaces: A War Story. Julie is a social scientist based in San Francisco, and her work explores how humans experience emerging technologies. Listen in as we delve into the relationship between humans and robots, exploring everything from love and intimacy to the bonds humans form with robots deployed in military setti...

Today, we’re honoured to be joined by Jenny Zhang -- a software engineer and writer based in Canada. Her purpose-driven approach to technology development comes through clearly throughout our time with her, and (we think) offers up valuable lessons to anyone seeking to generate beneficial impact in the tech industry.

Listen in as we talk to Jenny about her circuitous path to...

In this episode we talk with Caitlin Bentley, a Lecturer in AI Education at King’s College London. Caitlin’s research has predominantly engaged with questions around how technology systems can be designed and implemented in ways that promote social inclusion, empowerment and democratic participation. Tune in to hear about a theme of fierce women in history, the ups and downs of experimenting with educational pedagogies, intersectio...

In this episode, co-hosts Zena and Liz share some of their experiences on creating podcast episodes in support of the Social Responsibility of Algorithms workshop series and discuss the potential futures of the Algorithmic Futures podcast. Along the way, they have a wide-ranging discussion covering everything from how assumptions get embedded in technologies deployed at scale to what it’s like being a woman working in a male-domina...