As ever better AI tech makes life more digitalized and convenient, what might an optimized life look like? At what point could all this go too far, especially if AI makes key decisions and recommendations when lives are at stake? AI expert Prof Alec Balasescu asks, and answers.

The recent Google saga has stirred up a hornet’s nest over ‘sentient AI’ and spurred reexamination of this question and its implications for AI’s future. Sentient AI is not a bad thing per se since it would enable it to more effectively read human emotions.

The overuse of antibiotics has led to the evolution of drug-resistant ‘superbugs.’ Though artificial intelligence can discover newer, more powerful drugs, these will likely cause bacteria to evolve yet again to become even more resistant. Instead, a longer-lasting solution is needed that will address the root cause of all this, and AI could very well hold the key to making this a reality too.

Medical image recognition is a deep, complex area, certainly in the early diagnosis of retinopathy. Anthropologist and AI expert Alec Balasescu shows how machine learning is helping to make the sector’s vision become much clearer.