NOTE: This event has been postponed from the original date of Thu 21st Apr, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm ACST due to disruptions caused by Covid. Please check back again for new dates.

Envisioning the good life - what role for AI and automation?

‘Confluences: Digital Revolution and Everyday Life’ is a public event focussing on the increasing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital technologies in everyday life.

The event is co-hosted by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and MOD. at the University of South Australia, as well as the French Embassy to Australia and forms part of an international suite of activities supported by the French Government’s Night of Ideas initiative celebrating the free circulation of ideas and knowledge through conferences, forums and artistic performances. The Night of Ideas’ focus this year is on “(Re)building together”.

‘Confluences: Digital Revolution and Everyday Life’ will involve two interconnected activities:

Firstly, in the University of South Australia’s Bradley Forum, Professor of Emerging Technologies Sarah Pink and renowned social theorist Professor Anthony Elliott will discuss the increasing impregnation of digital technologies and AI in peoples’ homes, workplaces and other everyday environments. Audiences will be encouraged to consider how this digitisation of everyday life is impacting people, shaping social interactions and altering politics.
Following this discussion, audience members will be invited to a cocktail reception and networking event at MOD. where they can bring the lines of thought being developed to bear on exhibits and displays that signify the invisible presence of AI in everyday life.

The event will be chaired by MOD. Director, futurist and engineer Dr Kristin Alford and introduced by Mr Boris Toucas, Head of Culture, Education, Science & Technology at the Embassy of France in Australia. It will also include contributions from French scholars and experts on AI, including Jean-Marie John-Mathews, coordinator of the ‘Good In tech’ academic chair at Sciences Po, France.

Free entry. Drinks and Nibbles provided at MOD.

Meet the Panellists

Sarah Pink (PhD, FASSA) is Professor and Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab and an Associate Director of the Monash Energy Institute at Monash University, Australia. She leads the Transport Mobilities Focus Area, and co-leads the People Programme of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Automated Decision-Making & Society. Sarah is an international Visiting Professor at Halmstad University, Sweden and Loughborough University, UK.

Anthony Elliott (FAcSS, FASSA, FCCS, FUSIA) is Dean of External Engagement, Executive Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Research Professor of Sociology at the University of South Australia. Professor Elliott is one of the most influential and widely published social theorists in the world, with over 40 books translated in 15 languages. The New Republic has described his research breakthroughs as “thought-provoking and disturbing”.

Dr Kristin Alford is a globally recognised futurist and the inaugural Director of MOD., an award-winning future-focused museum at the University of South Australia. She is President of the Australia Science and Technology Engagement Network (ASTEN), a Regional Editor for the Journal of Futures Studies and in advisory roles on the Accreditation, Recognition and Certification Committee for the South Australian Certificate of Education and the Art & Culture Advisory Board for innovation district Lot Fourteen. From a mixed background that includes qualifications and experience in engineering, human resources, strategy, science communication and futures thinking, she actively works across a range of sectors to help people create sustainable, prosperous, and equitable futures.

Associate Professor Jean-Marie John-Mathews, is a researcher in algorithmic ethics. He is coordinator of the academic chair Good In tech (Institut Mines Télécom/ Sciences Po) and lecturer at Sciences Po, PSL University and Paris-Dauphine University. His research focuses on the development of so-called “responsible” tools in artificial intelligence. His research has been published in several scientific journals such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change and the Journal of Business Ethics, as well as in international conferences such as the International Conference on Information Systems. In the past he worked as a data scientist in consulting then industry after training in mathematics, economics then philosophy.