Published on Jun 13, 2019
Artificial intelligence is already here.

There's a lot of debate and hype about AI, and it's tended to f

Published on Jun 13, 2019
Artificial intelligence is already here.

There's a lot of debate and hype about AI, and it's tended to focus on the extreme possibilities of a technology still in its infancy. From self-aware computers and killer robots taking over the world, to a fully-automated world where humans are made redundant by machines, the brave new world of Artificial Intelligence is prophesied by some to be a doomed, scary place, no place for people.

For others, AI is ushering in great technological advances for humanity, helping the world communicate, manufacture, trade and innovate faster, longer, better.

But in between these competing utopian and dystopian visions, AI is allowing new ways of maintaining an old order.

It is being used across public and private spheres to make decisions about the lives of millions of people around the world - and sometimes those decisions can mean life or death.

"Communities, particularly vulnerable communities, children, people of colour, women are often characterised by these systems, in quite misrepresentative ways," says Safiya Umoja Noble, author of the book, Algorithms of Oppression.

In episode one of The Big Picture: The World According to AI, we chart the evolution of artificial intelligence from its post-World War II origins and, dissect the mechanisms by which existing prejudices are built into the very systems that are supposed to be free of human bias.

We shed a harsh light on computerised targeting everywhere from foreign drone warfare to civilian policing. In the UK, we witness the trialling of revolutionary new facial recognition technology by the London Metropolitan Police Service.

We examine how these technologies, that are far from proven, are being sold as new policing solutions to maintain in some of the world's biggest cities.

The Big Picture: The World According to AI explores how artificial intelligence is being used today, and what it means to those on its receiving end.