City St George’s experts discuss opportunities, challenges and cross-pollination of AI to launch new Institute

Harnessing the powers and development of artificial intelligence (AI) for businesses, educators and professions was the theme of the evening as the new Institute for Creativity and AI held its launch event at Bayes Business School.

The Institute is City St George’s, University of London’s new collaborative space, bringing together academics, students, businesses and practitioners to explore impact and solve problems at the intersection of creative work and artificial intelligence (AI).

The event was introduced by Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President of City St George’s. Professor Finkelstein, who has an engineering and computer science background, told the audience of his surprise at the impact that scaling learning, computationally and over very large data sets, has had on the resultant behaviour of AI systems.

“As an aspiring engineer, I first came across AI, principally knowledge representation, whilst working on simulation and modelling of design behaviours,” he said.

“I followed work on machine learning but thought it would have limited application in areas such as vision and imaging. I was profoundly shocked – despite my familiarity with the approaches - at what the new methods, applied at scale, delivered. The behaviour of the latest generations of Large Language Models is extraordinary and disruptive.

"We need to hold onto our shock and surprise with the new developments in AI.”

A keynote speech was then delivered by Dr Richard Banks, Principal Design Manager at Microsoft Research UK, about a shift in its practical use “from prediction to critical integration”. Dr Banks also outlined the implications of AI on metacognition, and its ability to “monitor, understand and control one’s own thought processes”. He outlined six examples of how AI can be used to help people think better – including task decomposition and goal reflection.

Following the keynote, Professor Neil Maiden, Director of the Institute, presented on its vision and aims, before introducing the panel of expert academic colleagues from across disciplines and schools at City St George’s. Chaired by Dr Sara Jones, Reader in Creative Interactive System Design at Bayes, panel members included:

• Professor Eduardo Alonso, Professor of Artificial Intelligence & Computer Science Research Director, School of Science & Technology
• Professor Charles Baden-Fuller, Centenary Chair in Strategy, Bayes Business School
• Dr Lea Hellmueller, Reader in Journalism, School of Communication & Creativity
• Professor Francesca Strumia, Professor of Law, The City Law School

Topics of discussion were incorporated into three themes – opportunities, challenges and supporting the future workforce. Panellists agreed that AI had great potential to enhance creative resources for pedagogy, with Dr Hellmueller citing the opportunities for journalist students amid growing AI presence in the media.

Professor Strumia spoke about AI in the legal professions, and the language capabilities that could help lawyers express themselves more forcefully.

On the flipside, Professor Alonso outlined key challenges that AI posed to lecturers, including requirements for the most up-to-date guidance needed to teach responsibly and the establishment of norms to guide an ethical approach.

The panel concluded by exploring what AI capabilities could mean for businesses and workers in future. Professor Baden-Fuller spoke about the Institute’s aims for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their digital adoption and algorithmic processes, where take up of digital adoption remains low.

Professor Maiden said the event was an exciting way to celebrate the Institute’s work.

“The Institute for Creativity and AI is here to bridge the gap between academia and practice, and bring idea exchange to life for positive change via better creative thinking and innovation,” he said.

“It was therefore wonderful to see a mix of audience guests – colleagues, students, professionals and commentators in the digital space – and present to them our vision for this new collaborative space.

“How we grasp the immense potential of artificial intelligence across key sectors, and negotiate the tests it puts forward, will determine how we create then innovate to improve business growth, education, healthcare, journalism, law and many other sectors for generations to come.

“I am really excited to see the exploration of this potential come to life here at City St George’s.”

Find out more about the Institute for Creativity and AI.

Read about our short course, Introduction to Conversational and Generative AI.