A.I. everywhere: How digital assistants will transform our lives
Date | 05 Jun 2018 |
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Location | Centre for Global Dialogue Rüschlikon, Zurich, Switzerland Click to open Google Maps |
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Summary
Leading researchers, developers and thought leaders of artificial intelligence shared insights on how AI and digital assistants will transform our lives at a conference at the Centre for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon.
Videos
About the event
Digital assistants have the potential to be the bridge between smart homes, smart cars, smartphones, PCs, wearables and other devices that we use in our personal and professional lives. They could make our lives better organised, and our devices and services much easier to use. What are the promises and challenges of this brave new world of intelligence augmentation?
Swiss Re, the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI), and IBM Research which are at the forefront of artificial intelligence research, development and prediction, have joined forces to approach the topic from different points of view at this conference on digital assistants:
Business
Swiss Re illustrates the potential impact of digital assistants on the financial services sector.
Society
GDI, one of Switzerland’s leading think tanks for economics, society and consumption maps future concepts and ideas for uses of digital assistants.
Technology and innovation
As a pioneer in advancing artificial intelligence for business use, IBM Research explains the principles behind the technology and shows how domains such as the supply chain, Internet of Things and healthcare are poised for dramatic change.
The conference connected networks of artificial intelligence research and practice with thought leaders and decision makers from society, business and government.
Presentations
|
Tuesday, 5 June 2018 |
08.00 |
Welcome coffee and registration |
Setting the scene |
|
08.30 |
Welcome |
08.35 |
Panel discussion with |
09.05 |
Opening keynote address |
09.35 |
Multimodal interfaces and designing with voice: Past, present, future |
09.55 |
How A.I. assistants will transform your business |
10.15 |
Break |
What are digital assistants and how do they work? |
|
10.45 |
Voice enable all the things |
11.00 |
The Google Assistant and the conversational interface revolution |
11.15 |
Q&A |
11.30 |
How the automotive industry utilises digital labor to transform the customer experience in the era of A.I. |
11.45 |
Loving the alien: Empathy and the relationship between us and digital assistants |
12.00 |
A.I. up close and personal: How your digital assistant understands your emotions and prevents your next heart attack |
12.15 |
Q&A |
12.30 |
Lunch |
How digital assistants are implemented in business today |
|
13.45 |
Parallel breakout sessions Swiss Re This session will give you an idea about how AI and digital assistants are used in the insurance industry. Learn how you can connect directly with your customers through the power of smart messaging and AI, driving satisfaction and loyalty, and how data science and machine learning can be used to power services that give everyone access to tailored advice about their life and their risks. How digital transformation creates a connected experience in the on-demand economy Friction-free inspections utilizing the first 100% trustworthy image & video solution Building the world’s smartest independent insurance adviser The Swiss Re perspective
The future of AI arrives in many shapes and forms. “Smartness” is not a single dimension. There are many modes of cognition, bundled in different systems. Some smart assistants will understand emotions, some will act autonomously, alone or together in a swarm of other intelligent agents. In this breakout session, we will discuss how emotional and autonomous AI work and how we will interact with, control and educate it. Moderator: Florian Inhauser, Swiss Radio and Television SRF Opening remarks How to measure and predict happiness and other emotions Digital assistants: Will we do as they say?
A.I. assistants are already being used across many industries and in different forms. However, there exists tremendous untapped potential that is the subject of ongoing research. This session gives you a flavor of existing business applications and a taste of the future that is being shaped in our research labs. Our goal is to augment human intelligence and design a partnership between man and machine in a way that becomes essential for your organisation’s mission. We will also talk about how A.I. is changing the future of work and about our ethical framework for the future development of A.I. systems. Moderator: Karin Vey, Executive Innovation Consultant, IBM ThinkLab at IBM Research Priyanka Deva, Senior Technical Staff Member-Cognitive Solutions; Global Leader Smarter Supply Chain Analytics-CoC, IBM Presentation |
15.00 |
Break |
An outlook |
|
15.15 |
Artificial Angel of Death or Bodhisattva-AI? Practical and ethical implications of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) |
15.45 |
The next frontier: When thoughts control machines |
16.15 |
The renaissance of our species |
16.45 |
Conclusion |
16.50 |
Networking reception |
18.00 |
End of event |
Gallery
Photos by Valeriano Di Domenico
Speakers

Gianluca Antonini
Head Machine Intelligence & Strategy
Information Technology

Pravina Ladva
Chief Technology & Operations Officer iptiQ & Group Digital Transformation Officer

Costas Bekas
Distinguished Researcher & Manager
IBM Research

David Bosshart
CEO
Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute

Wally Brill
Head of Conversation Design Advocacy & Education

Claude Clément
Chief Technology Officer
Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering

Priyanka Deva
Senior Technical Staff Member-Cognitive Solutions
lobal Leader Smarter Supply Chain Analytics-CoC, IBM

Alex Dogariu
Manager Customer Management Strategy & A.I. Lead
Mercedes-Benz Consulting

Karin Frick
Head of Think Tank and Member of the Executive Board
Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute

Neil Harbisson
Cyborg and Transpecies Activist

Florian Inhauser
Journalist and moderator

Dave Isbitski
Chief Evangelist Alexa and Echo
Amazon

Nick Jennings
Professor of Artificial Intelligence
Imperial College London

Tilke Judd
Product Manager

Karen Kaushansky
Experience Design Leader
Robot Futures Consulting GmbH

Yoram Levanon
Chief Scientific Officer
Beyond Verbal Communication Ltd.

Jeffrey McGregor
CEO
Truepic

Thomas Metzinger
Professor of Theoretical Philosophy
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; Adjunct Fellow, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Study (FIAS)

Donna Peeples
Chief Customer Officer
Pypestream

Marius Stein
Project Technical Lead
mycargorates.de

David Vanek
CEO and Co-Founder
Anorak

Gabi Zodik
Director, CTO and Head of Development
Watson Assistant Solutions, IBM Research

Jakub Samochowiec
Senior Researcher
Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
Market stands
Conference attendees will have the chance to visit the following five market stands between 8:00 and 17:15 when the conference is not in session:
CYBATHLON's BrainRunners – Brain-Computer Interface Race: Control your avatar with the power of your own mind
The CYBATHLON is a unique championship for people with disabilities competing in six disciplines, using advanced assistive devices including robotic technologies to solve everyday tasks.
On 8th October 2016, the CYBATHLON was carried out for the first time in the SWISS Arena in Kloten near Zurich. The event impressively demonstrated how assistive technologies can help people with disabilities to tackle the challenges of everyday life and that there still is a huge potential. That’s why the gates will be opened for the continuation of the CYBATHLON at the SWISS Arena in Kloten near Zurich from 2–3 May 2020. Prepare yourself for an arena charged with passion and an emotion-filled audience that is inspired by the exciting races and challenging tasks.
You will have the chance to experience one of the six CYBATHLON disciplines: In the BrainRunners computer game you have the chance to test the power of your thoughts. Using a brain-computer interface (BCI) you control your avatar with your thoughts alone.
CYBATHLON’s BrainRunners was developed through a joint collaboration between ETH Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Do you have the mental focus to will your avatar to the finish line? Stop by and play the game to see how well technology can in effect, read your mind.
Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering
What visitors can expect:
Reveal hidden neurotechnology in a bionic body by scanning augmented reality markers with a specialised app. Find out more about the implantable neurotech being developed to help people with nervous system disorders.
Take a fantastic voyage through the brain with an immersive VR experience. This demo is a new way of visualizing very high resolution microscopy images. The Wyss Center’s lightsheet microscope was used to create the high res brain images.
Put on VR goggles and build you own flexible electrodes in the virtual Campus Biotech cleanroom. As visitors are rarely allowed into the Campus Biotech cleanroom, this demo was developed to allow people to not only ‘visit’ the cleanroom but also to build their own flexible brain probes. (The VR needs 2m high mounting points for two cameras).
Pick up and touch real implantable devices. We will bring a selection of both prototype and existing devices from our collection.
Swissquote's Robo Advisor
A true frontrunner in terms of new technologies, Swissquote was created in 1996 and rapidly became the No. 1 financial and online trading services provider in Switzerland. The group works with over 300,000 private investors and institutional clients.
In 2010 Swissquote launched its digital wealth management platform ePrivate Banking. In the past, the only options for people looking to grow their wealth were to entrust their money to a fund manager or to opt for direct trading. The Robo Advisory solution provides an innovative alternative to traditional wealth management. You define your risk profile and preferred investment universe. The Robo Advisor then proposes an optimal investment strategy that is perfectly adapted to the risk profile defined and your preferences. As no emotions are involved, this wealth manager ensures compliance with the risk profile and investment preferences, and makes any necessary reallocations in order to maintain the optimal direction of your portfolio.
Embark on the digital revolution and try out our Robo Advisory demo at our booth.
Swiss Re
ContactOne, SwissRe's internal customer service, is moving towards the digital age of the customer by optimising and digitising opportunities how services such as IT, HR, Logistics, etc. are offered and supported for our employees.
Last year we introduced a cognitive assistant based on IBM Watson technology for our service desk agents so they can better serve our customers in a three step approach:
1. Understanding the customer context with all relevant customer information
2. Finding the best solution to a customer inquiry or issue across a variety of knowledge sources
3. Efficiently documenting and classifying tickets based on suggestions provided with machine learning capabilities
This year we are piloting a chatbot for ContactOne: a virtual agent, which enables better, easier and more effective self-service for Swiss Re employees.
Join us to experience our agent assistant as well as our chatbot and learn about our experiences, successes and lessons learned along the way!
IBM's digital assistants everywhere: in everyday business and everyday life, from down-to-earth to high-in-the-sky
IBM Research is presenting a gallery of examples that show how digital assistants are being used across various industries and for a broad spectrum of tasks, as well as the technologies that power them. Come meet Alvi, CIMON, Connie, EVA, Gwyn, IVIE, Josie, Lucy, MERA, Rachel, Rocky, Olli, Sepp, Sophie and see what they can do.
How happy are you?
You have the opportunity to participate in an experiment on happiness conducted by researchers from MIT and the University of Cologne. They will measure and predict your happiness and other emotions based on data collected by the sensors of a smartwatch. They will show you when and with whom you were happy or stressed during the conference. To participate, pick up one of thirty smartwatches which we will have ready for you at the registration desk right before the conference (first come, first served), download an app on your iPhone or Android, and start automatically tracking your mood. More information can be found at happimeter.org.