What might artificial intelligence–and machine learning–mean to your future?

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More, perhaps, than we can imagine today.  According to professor/technologist/entrepreneur J. Scott Christianson, machine learning may soon be a core element of everyday life.  And the effects can be much more positive than people tend to think.

With the right focus, Scott says, machine learning can help students determine their future careers.  It can also help in the fields of medicine, possibly facilitate breakthroughs in research, and even lead to more successful social interactions.

On his website, Scott states that we can shape the future by understanding technology.  He doesn’t simply say that–he’s lived it.

In 1996, Scott co-authored the book, Virtual Classrooms: Educational Opportunity Through Two-Way Interactive Television.  Two years later, according to his LinkedIn profile, he founded the company, Kaleidoscope Videoconferencing, which served businesses and educational institutions with videoconferencing equipment and tech support for 21 years.

In other words, he was twenty-plus years ahead of today’s remote conferences and distance learning.

Scott, who describes himself as a “technologist who is also a teacher”, currently teaches classes at the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business.  He also supplies a lot of great resources on AI, and on technology in general.  You can subscribe to his newsletter, The Free Range Technologist, and check out his latest recommendations for artificial intelligence resources and information at this link.

Scott talked about his background, shared a number of the ways AI can positively shape the future and explored some of the current resources available for anyone who’d like to learn more.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• How Scott first became interested in artificial intelligence;

• A definition of machine learning (which is a narrow form of artificial intelligence);

• A “preview” look at a projected future with AI;

• How AI and machine learning predicted the pandemic (and are combating it);

• A project in which the average person can help in the research process;

• The ways AI could allow us to reimagine education in the future;

• What “brain science” is and how it can be used in the classroom;

• Some of the AI resources Scott recommends;

• Why AI and machine learning can make errors;

• Where we currently stand on guidelines for ethics in AI systems;

• Scott’s recommendations for remaining employable and relevant in the future;

• Some of his favorite “learning experiences” while teaching his students;

• How machine learning can combat climate change;

• Several AI applications Scott enjoys using;

• A number of great resources if you would like to learn how to create artificial-intelligence technology;

• A cutting-edge technology currently active in other countries, which will probably be adopted in the U.S. “sooner rather than later”

• Scott’s advice to his students about becoming invaluable for the future.