My Presentation at Leeds Digital Festival

You are here: Home » Blog » My Presentation at Leeds Digital Festival

I was delighted to speak this week at the Leeds Digital Festival on the topic of ‘AI, from inception to innovation’. It was a full house with 120 attendees and hosted at Parallax in The Elbow Room, in the centre of the city.

You can find the recording here. My stuff starts at minute 26.

I had a little time before the event and, on a sunny Leeds morning, strolled along the side of the canal which forms one of the city’s traditional arteries. It allowed me to reflect on how Leeds was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution of the 1800’s and how it’s now playing a pivoting role in the Data Revolution.

I wondered what are the parallels? Will there be (or is there already) a new equivalent to the Luddite Movement?

Will there be, like last time, a whole set of unexpected consequences? (By definition, I can’t even try to predict what they might be!)

Will AI be a wealth generator and at some time in the future, leave us with industrial ‘temples’ like the old mills? Maybe the temples will be virtual, rather than real?

My presentation also spoke about the future of work and it’s consequences on the workforce. Is AI an opportunity for Workers Representation in the form of the Union Movement to reinvigorate itself, or has that particular canal boat already left the wharf?

So many questions and reflections from what was both and interesting and enjoyable visit to what is often described as the UK’s second city.