Here’s a thought that is tautological: a self-adjudicating system cannot seek external arbitration to determine its next state. I like the idea that some tautologies are useful. And I think this one is. I’ve been applying it to the dynamica…
Apr 27, 2026 • Neil D. Lawrence A vital perspective is missing from the discussions we’re having about Artificial Intelligence: what does it mean for our identity? Our fascination with AI stems from the perceived uniqueness of human intelli…
Nov 12, 2025 • Neil D. Lawrence Imagine in 1925 a world where the automobile is already transforming society, but big promises are being made for things to come. The stock market is soaring, the 1918 pandemic is forgotten. And every major a…
Apr 4, 2025 • Neil D. Lawrence Despite its transformative potential, artificial intelligence risks following a well-worn path where technological innovation fails to address society’s most pressing problems. This talk examines this persiste…
Apr 1, 2024 • Neil D. Lawrence A vital perspective is missing from the discussions we’re having about Artificial Intelligence: what does it mean for our identity? Our fascination with AI stems from the perceived uniqueness of human intellig…
Feb 9, 2024 • Neil D. Lawrence This is a summary of some of the ideas presented in a talk for The State of Open 2024 on 7th February 2024. The piece is also included in the “State of Open” report on AI and Open Innovation. In Goethe’s poem
Nov 9, 2023 • Neil D. Lawrence Digital transformation has offered the promise of moving from a manual decision-making world to a world where decisions can be rational, data-driven and automated. The first step to digital transformation is m…
Nov 14, 2022 • Neil D. Lawrence Machine learning solutions, in particular those based on deep learning methods, form an underpinning of the current revolution in “artificial intelligence” that has dominated popular press headlines and is ha…
Jul 7, 2022 • Neil D. Lawrence Digital transformation has offered the promise of moving from a manual decision-making world to a world where decisions can be rational, data-driven and automated. The first step to digital transformation is m…
May 10, 2022 • Neil D. Lawrence In 2014, along with Corinna Cortes, I was Program Chair of the Neural Information Processing Systems conference. At the time, when wondering about innovations for the conference, Corinna and I decided it woul…
Mar 1, 2021 • Neil D. Lawrence In this talk I will introduce the importance of uncertainty in decision making and describe how it provides a mathematical justification for procrastination through the game of Kappenball. Philosophical Essay
Feb 2, 2021 • Neil D. Lawrence With breakthroughs in understanding images, translating language, transcribing speech artificial intelligence promises to revolutionise the technological landscape. Machine learning algorithms are able to conv…