Workshop on Applied AI

On March 16th 2018, Oxford University’s Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, r4 Technologies, and Palantir co-organized an exclusive expert workshop on “Applied Artificial Intelligence” at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. The workshop convened leading experts and practitioners from the worlds of academia, business, and government to discuss pressing ethical and practical concerns on the applied aspects of machine learning technology and Big Data analytics. The discussion drew from the organizers’ extensive experience working with top representatives in the policy and business communities on the challenges and opportunities of the use of AI technology to transform business and government.

The proceedings were kicked off by welcoming remarks from Lucas Kello, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs. John Grant, Director of Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering at Palantir Technologies, and his team of engineers ensued with a presentation addressing challenges of privacy ethics in the application of AI and data analytics more generally. In the afternoon, Ralf-Dieter Wagner and David Bradley, respectively General Manager and Executive Vice President of  r4 Technologies, discussed the lessons learned from early AI adopters—or how organizations can harness applied AI to increase organizational performance and client satisfaction. They outlined new Enterprise AI design principles and a new management discipline, illustrating the benefits with reference to various case studies in the governmental, healthcare, and business sectors.

Among its other delegates, the workshop included senior representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, News Corp UK, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco Bank, and Croda.