Recording of Research and the “AI Revolution” - a School of Informatics Distinguished Lecture presented by Professor Christopher Bishop on 5 October 2020. 

Christopher Bishop is a Microsoft Technical Fellow and Laboratory Director of the Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, UK.   He is also Professor of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh, and a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge.  In 2004, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in 2007 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 2017 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.  At Microsoft Research, Chris oversees a world-leading portfolio of industrial research and development, with a strong focus on machine learning and AI, and creating breakthrough technologies in cloud infrastructure, security, workplace productivity, computational biology, and healthcare.  

Abstract:
We are seeing the first phases of a major transformation in the way technology is created, driven by machine learning. In contrast to the longer-term aspiration of creating human-level general intelligence in machines, this shift is happening now and is pervasive and far-reaching. It also has important implications for the way we do research, both in industry and academia, giving a strong focus to partnerships and to multi-disciplinary teams. In this talk, I will discuss the nature of this transformation, and highlight why the coming decade will be a hugely exciting, and critically important, time to engage deeply in machine learning for those who seek to have real-world impact through technology.