Maths, AI and intuition with Geordie Williamson: Sydney Ideas event

This public event took place on 15 March 2022. To receive updates about SMRI Public Events, please subscribe to the mailing list.

Artificial intelligence is one of the defining technologies of the 21st century. Over the last 15 years, machine learning models have learnt to perform tasks that humans find easy, such as speech and image recognition. However many problems are still out of the reach of AI, including most unsolved problems in pure mathematics.

Hear from SMRI Director Professor of Mathematics Geordie Williamson as he explores how machine learning can help with the intuitive aspects of mathematical research. Geordie recently carried out one of the first applications of AI in pure mathematics, in collaboration with Oxford University mathematicians and DeepMind, the AI company of AlphaGo fame. The results were published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature in December 2021.

Geordie and the DeepMind team used machine learning models to uncover surprising patterns in mathematical objects, leading to progress on problems that have puzzled mathematicians for decades.

Mathematician and MC Adam Spencer will host this Sydney Ideas talk. Join us to find out how AI can help deepen our understanding of the world and our brains, and enhance one of our human superpowers: intuition.

View the post-event news post for a photo gallery and companion articles, as well as the event recording:

About the speaker: Professor Geordie Williamson FAA FRS is Director of the Sydney Mathematical Research Institute and a world-leading expert in representation theory, the mathematical theory of symmetry. Among other awards, he is a recipient of the Clay Research Award, the Chevalley Prize of the American Mathematics Society and 2017 New Horizons in Mathematics Prize.

About the MC: Adam Spencer, Mathematics and Science Ambassador for the University of Sydney, is a best-selling author and science communicator.

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Larissa Fedunik-Hofman

Communications Coordinator at Sydney Mathematical Research Institute

Larissa received a PhD in solar chemistry at the University of Newcastle in 2021. As a science communicator, she is passionate about science and mathematics outreach and supporting the research ecosystem.

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