RV_Jones Lecture: Can Computers Change their Minds?

RV_Jones Lecture: Can Computers Change their Minds?
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This is a past event

Presentation by Professor Alan Bundy (CBE), University of Edinburgh

Abstract Autonomous agents require models of their environment in order to interpret sensory data and to make plans to achieve their goals, including anticipating the results of the actions of themselves and other agents. These models must change when the environment changes, including their models of other agents, or when their goals change, since successful problem solving depends on choosing the right representation of the problem. We are especially interested in conceptual change, i.e., a change of the language in which the model is expressed. Failures of reasoning can suggest repairs to faulty models. Such failures can, for instance, take the form of inferring something false, failing to infer something true or inference just taking too long. Professor Bundy will illustrate the automated repair of faulty models drawing both on work multi-agent planning and on the evolution of theories of physics.

Biography

Alan Bundy is Professor of Automated Reasoning in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.  His research interests include the automation of mathematical reasoning, with applications to reasoning about the correctness of computer software and hardware; and the automatic construction, analysis and evolution of representations of knowledge, also called ontologies. His research combines artificial intelligence with theoretical computer science and applies this to practical problems in the development and maintenance of computing systems.  He is the author of over 290 publications and has held over 60 research grants. He is a fellow the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Engineers. The major awards for his research, include the IJCAI Research Excellence Award (2007) and the CADE Herbrand Award (2007). He was awarded a CBE in 2012.

Venue
King's Conference Centre
Contact

Admission is FREE however please book in advance to ensure a place is reserved