Architects' Livery Lecture - AI: what if we succeed
19th June 2024RIBA
Having mentioned the subject of AI during my Installation speech, I rather thought I should go to the annual Milo Lecture organised by the Architects to find out more about it!
It was held at the Royal Institute of British Architects, where my father-in-law trained, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a look inside! As it turned out it was just as well, as they are going to refurbish the building soon, removing the lecture room rear screen screen (seen in picture 3), as it is now considered to be too Imperialist for current tastes!
The evening was hosted by the Master Architect, and included two lectures by British speakers:
- Neil Leach, an architect, curator and writer from Venice University, California.
- Professor Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, California
The first lecture was very much focused on the impact of AI on architecture and how it has the potential to vastly improve and speed up the design of houses, but may lead to less work for architects.
The second was focused on the technology and how regulation should happen (which is in the process of being worked out). Very interesting and quite sobering - looks like the software companies who produce AI systems don't really know how they work but still don't really want to be regulated. However, let's hope the new regulatory systems will force a complete rewrite of this type of software to prevent it getting out of control!
Well worth the visit!