Over the past two years, Norwich School has worked closely with the Norfolk Cambridge Society and their provision of lectures to help foster the intellectual life of the county. Lectures, open to all, have normally taken place in person on the Norwich School site. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, last week’s lecture was held virtually via Zoom, with active participation from the Norwich School community. All pupil places were free.

The seventh lecture in the Norfolk Cambridge Society Lecture series was given by Professor Richard Harvey on the subject of Artificial Intelligence - How Much is it Likely to Impact Your Life? 

Richard Harvey is Professor of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia and IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology at Gresham College, London. He undertakes research in a wide variety of highly technical fields related to AI and has advised many start-up companies in this field. He also holds several posts in the Vice-Chancellor's Office at University of East Anglia, including Academic Director for Admissions.

The lecture was an interesting exploration of how Artificial Intelligence may well prove to be the most important technological development impacting life in the twenty-first century, detailing how it will change many aspects of the global economy, security, communications and transportation, as well as altering how humans work, communicate, think and make decisions. A very lively Q&A session ensued.

The next talk in the series is to take place in January 2021.