Firstly, what is Artificial Intelligence?

Indeed, what is it? We, The Humans, find ourselves at a crossroads in time where scifi fantasy is becoming all too real, quicker than we expected it to; self-driving cars, robot companions, quantum computers taking over the stock exchange. What ever could be next? 

If you look at the headlines, the dark-cloud dystopia of 'artificial intelligence' is moving in thick and fast; the robots are taking over, robots are replacing us in the workforce - we're gathering a list and it's looong. 

Yet when all the headlines are so sensationally dystopian, we so often forget to note that artificial intelligence is already here in so many beneficial guises; particularly in medical equipment. 

Artificial intelligence, it seems, is both an unquantifiable ingredient of technology and a fact of life. The multi-directional evolution of AI makes the subject area difficult to quantify, track or describe succinctly. We need a bit of time and space for that.

So how do we talk about Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence in all its guises, real and imagined has become a fascinating dinner table discussion topic. So we figured it's important to get people round the dinner table to discuss it.

This meeting of minds at the AI retreat in Norway is an opportunity to re-group, take stock, and chart the domain. In the four days we're here, we’ll be doing what we can to discover more about the amorphous anatomy of Artificial Intelligence, or discover how it functions as part of the anatomy of… well everything else. 

It’s an opportunity to look soberly at where we’re heading, and a reality-check on where we’ve got to so far. 

If we asked one another "What does Artificial Intelligence mean to you?" - it feels like the answer would be wildly different every time.

Our next question, if we get to that, might then be:

"What are the questions we ought to be asking about AI?"

Where?

Where better than immersed in nature? Wedged between two mountains in the middle of no-where, Andy Budd has aptly chosen the Juvet Landscape Hotel in Western Norway as the venue for this discussion. Apart from the clear awesomeness of it having been the backdrop for the film Ex Machina, it's been built with some clear design principles that might serve as inspiration for some of our activities.

"I wanted to create a hotel that would not intrude upon nature, but rather exist in harmony with the landscape of which it is a part". Jensen & Skodvin 

Wish us luck! 

#AIretreat