Hi,

Welcome to my first English newsletter!

Just when I think I’m done with online dating, I go to a conference where you can Tinder with other attendees. Not for love, but for the network.

Swiping is really not my thing, but I have to admit I found the World Summit AI app very useful. No more standing around awkwardly hoping there’s someone to talk to. That might be nice at a conference with 100 people, it’s terrible at an event with more than 6,000.

Over the course of two days I spoke to an entrepreneur who wants to build a robot flight attendant, researchers who constantly have to tell their bosses that AI is not the holy grail, and an old acquaintance from my studies who had tracked me down through the app.

You have to know that I am a big fan of digital minimalism, the idea that we must first consider what we think is important and then look for the means that can best help us to achieve that.

So not filling up your phone with apps that distract you, but making a well-considered decision about what technology you do and don’t use. And that congress app, I thought, was really an example of an app that was valuable.

Only I noticed how easily I was sucked in again. Not only was I swiping, I was also active on Twitter for the first time in ages. The Dutch "Strategic Action Plan for Artificial Intelligence" had just been presented, and I thought it was good. It screamed for a thread.

But I was quickly sliding down the big attention-grabbing chute. I was constantly checking Twitter, the congress app, and my email during the conference. And as always at a conference, I drank way too much free coffee. So in the evening, I sat at home with a thumping heart and lay awake at night.

The struggle to make good use of technology never ends. The next day I took it a bit easier and imposed a coffee ban on myself. And then I even lost my phone during the weekend. (Completely accidentally, by the way.)

So now I am walking around with a very old Nokia. How very minimalist.

Is AI coming?

I found the congress fascinating but confusing because there was a strong evangelical vibe: AI is going to change our lives, and that is a great thing. There were certainly critical asides, such as from academics Gary Marcus and Stuart Russell, but everyone seemed to agree on one thing: AI is coming.

I got a little itchy because the discourse lacked the questions that have to be asked beforehand. Do we actually want AI to have a strong influence on our lives? When and when not? And what purposes should such systems serve?

I wrote a about my problems with the message as I heard it at the congress. In brief:

  1. AI is a hype and the term has therefore become a container term.
  2. AI is not a force of nature, it is man-made, and it is up to us whether AI "is coming" or not.
  3. AI is just a collection of methods. It must therefore not be a goal in itself, but a means towards an end.

The Correspondent

I’ve been writing a Dutch newsletter for four years now, and I’m very excited that it just got a twin sister. This is the place where I share articles I wrote and interesting stuff I’ve read/heard/seen. If you’re into the more geeky side of AI and statistics, no worries: #NerdAlert is a recurrent part of this newsletter. 

In my first I explained my plans for the coming period. In short, I want to get to know the people behind AI – machine learning, specifically. Because their beliefs, worldview, and blind spots influence the applications that we’ll eventually use.

Do you work on machine learning and do you want to talk to me? Please leave your details in I have already received a lot of responses, so thanks! I will contact you soon about the next steps.

Just before you go...

Another thing I missed at the conference: AI’s impact on climate. You can read more about it in this great “At this rate, one expert predicts, AI could account for as much as one-tenth of the world’s electricity use by 2025.”