Henley Probus Club

THE 496th meeting of the Henley Probus Club was held at Badgemore Park Golf Club on Tuesday, March 9.

The chairman opened the meeting and welcomed our newest member, Geoff Spurrier, to the club.

He then introduced our guest speaker, Professor Dan Remenyi PhD, who provided a most interesting and informative talk on the subject of Artificial Intelligence.

This was Dan’s second time addressing the club and his talk was on the seven key issues of AI Chatbots or what are now referred to as GenAI, which is short for Generated Artificial Intelligence.

He explained that nobody owns the term AI so it is now being used in various ways, including the refurbishment of Lord Nelson’s ship HMS Victory.

AI is difficult to define and means different things to different people.

Dan told us that the field is changing constantly and currently incorporates words, images, numbers and sounds.

The main worry when encountering AI is the huge amount of fakery.

The software itself is not always precise and is full of transgender bias so tries to make everything inclusive even when it clearly isn’t. The amount of money being poured into AI is eye-watering and there are a lot of new organisations entering into the market.

Dan emphasised that a lot of the advice given by AI is incorrect and one must be cautious when using the information with the recommendation to double check everything.

He pointed out that a lot of the research and development in the hardware that is used to run AI is done in Taiwan and that the major chip manufacturers are also located in Taiwan.

Dan also explained that a lot of the data upon which AI depends has been plagiarised and that there are now, and will be going forward, a good many cases concerning individual property rights.

In conclusion, the professor warned that there are a lot of scam investments, fake news, fake images, con artists and fakery associated with AI.

He said that the tsunami of fakery is the biggest threat currently posed by Artificial Intelligence.

We were very pleased to have Dan join us for lunch following the meeting and look forward to having him come and give us more talks in the future.

The talk concluded with thanks and a very warm message of appreciation from all members of the club. The chairman then closed the formal meeting and the members gathered for drinks followed by lunch.

Henley Probus meets at Badgemore Park on the second Tuesday of each month, starting with an informal gathering of members and visitors for a discussion and coffee, with the formal meeting commencing at 11.30am followed by lunch.

If anyone is interested in joining the club, please call our membership secretary Roger Griffiths on (01491) 575137 or email him at
regriffiths44@gmail.com

For more information about the club, visit henley
mensprobus.org.uk

Roger Roberts