I participated in the OECD Forum 2016 organised in the OECD HQ in Paris from 31 may to 1 June 2016. The forum hosted several important panel sessions tackling a spectrum of pressing issues such as Productivity & Inclusive Growth, The Circular Economy, Inclusive Cities, The Digital Economy & the Future of Work, Women & the Future of STEM and Cybersecurity & Privacy.
My waou moment was my interaction with the Pepper, the semi-humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics. Pepper was built to connect with people, assist them, and share knowledge with them. I would say that the interaction was natural and fun.
One of the best panels I attended was the “A mystery in the machine” by Professor Pedro Domingos from the University of Washington. According to Pr. Domingos, machine learning and algorithms are everywhere in our life from shopping e-commerce websites to interacting on social media. He explained that “humans are the species that adapts the world to itself instead of adapting itself to the world” and that “machine learning is the newest chapter in this million-year saga: with it, the world senses what you want and changes accordingly, without you having to lift a finger.”
Professor Domingos highlighted his views more in his book entitled “The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World“
