UNDER ΤΗΕ HOOD OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

As the busiest year in the history of artificial intelligence (AI) comes to a close, Prof Mike Wooldridge prepares to deliver the Royal Institution's first Christmas Lecture on the subject. Noa Leach sat down with him to get a preview of the demonstrations his talks will include and an insight into how he thinks AI is going to change the world for children

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In The Royal Institution's almost 200year history of Christmas Lectures, the topics covered have swept through chemistry, mechanical engineering and astronomy to psychology, climate change and, this year, artificial intelligence (AI).

Many people are concerned about how AI is going to change our healthcare, careers and entertainment, but what do the experts think? Mike Wooldridge is a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford and has been selected to deliver this year's Royal Institute Christmas Lectures on AI.

What was your reaction to being selected to give this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures?

I was stunned. The Christmas Lectures were one of the treats over the Christmas period for me as a kid - I was really into science and I can remember watching them in the 1970s.

I remember watching the astrophysicist Carl Sagan talking about the planets and being absolutely entranced by his lectures. More recently we had Sir David Attenborough. David Attenborough!

Following in their footsteps is really quite something. For so many British scientists, the Christmas Lectures were one of the things that kindled their interest in science. To be part of that legacy is amazing.

The Christmas Lectures are famous for their props. What can we expect to see in your talk?

The first thing the RI team told me is that it’s a tradition to have an explosion and a dog (ideally at different times). So there will be an explosion and there will be a dog, but I’m not saying any more than that.