Friday Focus: Debating Artificial Intelligence

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.  The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus. On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice and Rudyard spend the show talking about the upcoming June 22 Munk Debate on artificial intelligence at Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto. What are the major fault lines that are likely to drive the debate between MIT’s Max Tegmark and Yann LeCun, Chief AI scientist for Meta? How could the rise of thinking machines constitute an existential threat to humanity? What are the policies or practices that industry and government could adopt to ensure AI safety? Janice and Rudyard dissect the big issues and ideas that are making the rise of AI one of the most important issues of our time. To access full-length editions of the Friday Focus podcast, consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.