Join IAI Live May, an online programme of debate, discussion, and discovery with the world's leading thinkers on the critical issues of our time taking place in our online festival venue. May's event, 'AI & the end of humanity' will be questioning what it really means to be human in the face of rapid AI development.

From sophisticated robots to the development of new drugs, artificial Intelligence is shaping our future in many sectors. The creation of original text and forms of art were once thought to be the select preserve of human being but the exponential development of AI is challenging these assumptions. An increasing number claim that AI threatens the very idea of what it is to be human.

A recent survey of more than 900 technology pioneers and policy leaders predicted AI would threaten human autonomy and agency, with over a third saying we would be worse off in the future. This fear is confirmed they argue by Musk's proposal that we should link our brains directly to machines.  

Should we see AI as opening up an era of groundbreaking innovation, or does it foreshadow the loss of vital human attributes and independence? Does AI fundamentally challenge what it means to be human? Or is all the talk of its radical importance a sign that we have been taken in by the marketing hype of a enormously profitable industry, and humans not only remain very much in control but will continue to do so?