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Colloquium: Natural and Artificial Intelligence: Can They Really Converge?

Event Details:

  • Date:           Thursday, 1 December 2022
  • Time:          Starts: 16:00
  • Venue:        This is a hybrid event. You can attend in person at the Novel Technologies Laboratory (NTL), The Cyprus Institute,
                        or alternatively you can watch online at The Cyprus Institute YouTube live stream and Facebook event page.
  • Speaker:     Prof. Andreas Demetriou, Professor Emeritus of Psychology of the University of Cyprus and the University of Nicosia, President of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts

 

Abstract

The talk will first specify what is human intelligence according to current psychological research and theory. We will then discuss how intelligence is conceived and implemented by artificial intelligence systems.

Human intelligence is the result of evolution over millions of years, implemented by the brain. It is both modular (e.g., perceptual systems, domain-specific relational processing, such as quantitative, causal, and spatial relations) and general (Alignment, Abstraction, and Cognizance, relational integration processes, AACog) dealing with increasing efficiency with change and the unexpected. Reasoning and logic are the developmental product of AACog. AACog develops through cycles of increasing precision of representations, increasing experience-guided interdependence of representations, increasing awareness and regulation of current representations and mental processes, increasing precision of value-related regulation of choices and interpretations to fill in missing information and act proactively. This is how human general intelligence, g, develops.

Artificial intelligence simulates various aspects of human intelligence with impressive success. Two domains are prominent. Perception-based categorization (accurately recognize real world objects, specify their relations, and predict category-related membership, such as face recognition or mapping of how proteins are structured in the DNA from information about amino acids involved) and algorithmic-based problem-solving (rule-based complex activity in specific domains, such as chess). Despite these accomplishments, AI systems cannot yet deal with the unexpected. Their “intelligence” is the intelligence of their programmer rather than their own intelligence. To approach human intelligence, AI systems need to develop their own general intelligence (AGI), the holly grail of dealing with the unexpected. This has not been possible so far because AI uses wrong learning algorithms implementing ready-made regression equations matching the rules of the domain targeted.

This is not how human general intelligence, g, develops. To approach the development of human g artificial systems must go through the developmental cycles outlined above. In principle, this is possible, but we do not yet know how digital hardware may implement the development of human g as implemented by the human brain. Ideas about how this may happen will be discussed in the talk.

 

About the Speaker

andreas demetriouAndreas Demetriou is Professor Emeritus of Psychology of the University of Cyprus and the University of Nicosia and President of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts, a fellow of Academia Europea, the International Academy of Education. and the Association of Psychological Science. He is an Honorary Doctor of Middlesex University London and the University of Szeged, Hungary, and an Honorary Professor of Durham University, UK and the Northeastern Normal University, China. He was the Minister of Education and Culture of Cyprus.

He studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and the University of New South Wales, Australia. He was a professor of psychology at the Aristotle University, Greece (1975-1996), the University of Cyprus (1996-2008), and the University of Nicosia (2011-2017). He served in top academic positions, such as Vice-Rector and Acting Rector of the University of Cyprus (1999-2002) and founding President of the Cyprus University of Technology (2004-2008). He is a member of many learned societies and currently sits on the Board of the International Society for Research on Intelligence, he is also in the editorial board of several journals, including Intelligence and the Journal of Intelligence.

He published more than 200 books and articles in top technical journals presenting his work on cognitive development, intelligence, and related applications. His last book, GROWING MINDS (with George Spanoudis, Routledge), presented his theory of cognitive development. The journals New Ideas in Psychology (1998), Developmental Review (1999), Developmental Science (1999), Educational Psychology Review (2011), Intelligence (2014), Journal of Intelligence (2018), and Human Development (2018) devoted special sections for the discussion of his theory of cognitive development, its relations to general theory of intelligence, and implications for education.


 

The colloquium will be in English and the live stream is open to the public.
This is a hybrid event. You can attend in-person or attend online - live streaming of the discussion will be available at The Cyprus Institute YouTube live stream and Facebook event page.
Images and/or recordings of our open public events may be used by The Cyprus Institute for dissemination purposes including print and digital media such as websites, press-releases, social media, and live streaming.

 


 


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Additional Info

  • Date: Thursday, 1 December 2022
  • Time: Starts: 16:00
  • Speaker: Prof. Andreas Demetriou
  • Co-organisers: Professor Emeritus of Psychology of the University of Cyprus and the University of Nicosia, President of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts

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