Picture This – Artificial Intelligence; friend or foe?
On 23 November, leading members of the business community across Milton Keynes gathered at the city headquarters of technology company Aiimi for the second edition of Picture This.
What is Picture This?
The Picture This concept has been developed by a trio of agencies within Milton Keynes; Stratos – a brand and creative agency, Wirebox – a technical development agency and ourselves at Interdirect – a PR and digital comms agency.
It is a platform for people, our peers, friends, and partners to get together to discuss key themes and industry touchpoints crafted by that very audience. There’s no ‘hard sell’ – just an honest approach to thought-leadership which is fundamental to the Picture This ethos.
Hot topic
This second edition of Picture This focused on Artificial Intelligence. A hot topic considering Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes had just hosted the Global AI Safety-Summit; a huge stage for International Governments, leading AI companies and experts in research to come together to discuss and understand how to grip and tackle any potential AI risks to ensure it develops safely in the years ahead.
The aim for Picture This was to give a slightly different take on the sometimes controversial subject of artificial intelligence, from attempting to demystify the subject to looking at how the technology can help and enhance working practices.
What went down?
The event featured three industry specific speakers giving their own thoughts across a number of AI related topics including content creation, emerging tech and more.
Phil Hill from West Herts College talked about how generative AI is disrupting his field within photography. He talked about the historical upheaval when photography overtook painting as a mainstream medium, how he’s been using AI in teaching, particularly focusing on the many ways they cross over through critical thinking. Phil has also used AI to restore images from the past and he touched upon the bias in generative AI due to the fact it is largely used within the Western World.
The second speaker of the evening was Matt Eustace from Aiimi who talked about using AI tech as a problem-solving tool, and how having access to data via AI sources can help businesses make more informed decisions. He also talked at length about Extractive AI – the lesser-known cousin of the more popular Generative AI.
Designer, Matthew Maxwell, shared how he has been inspired by Shakespeare and used DALL.E to create artwork which blended modern day with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He also went on to talk about using AI to have fun within his art.
A Q&A session wrapped up the event and was hosted by our own MD, Nicholas Mann, who opened the room to encourage attendees to get involved in the conversation. Igniting a forthright debate, insightful questions were put to all three speakers, and all provided valuable input, incorporating various approaches and points within their answers.
What’s next?
The third edition of Picture This will be coming in early 2024 with an all-new topic to discuss and digest. Look out for more information coming soon.