Stories from a social enterprise that uses mathematical sciences in impact-oriented work around the world. Our experiences range from helping some of the world’s poorest farmers get value from data, to enabling academics to use AI responsibly in their teaching. We never know what our next task will be but the last 6 years have shown that it is likely to lead to a story.
In the spirit of celebrating failures as learning opportunities, and in accordance with a burgeoning festive tradition, David and Santiago discuss various self-defined “blunders” that members of IDEMS staff have made over the last 12 months. There can be only one winner of the IDEMS Blunder of the Year 2023!
Can how you spend the festive season influence the future of entertainment? Following the release of Alan Warburton’s film highlighting the potential effects of AI on the entertainment industry, Lily and David discuss what role AI could play in our consumption of films and videos in the future, and the potential implications for society.
Watch Alan Warburton’s film, The Wizard of AI, here: https://vimeo.com/884929644
Santiago Borio interviews David Stern on the concept of being “fundamentally profitable” and how and why IDEMS prioritises this over maximising profit. They explain how this idea evolved through the years in its implementations and present some challenges IDEMS faced recently to remain fundamentally profitable.
The IDEMS team enjoyed listening to how Danny and David were reluctant entrepreneurs and hearing about how social impact became an important goal for IDEMS in Episode 010, but they had some concerns. In this podcast, in accordance with IDEMS’ principle of being “critically assessed”, David responds to the team’s critiques.
A discussion between David and Danny, IDEMS directors, on how they became co-founders – despite originally considering themselves to be “reluctant entrepreneurs”.
As part of their series of conversations on Responsible AI, Dr Lily Clements and David Stern discuss “artificial intelligence” in general, breaking it down into three fundamental components: source data, algorithms, and learning cycles. Topics touched on include: the Turing Test; AI’s usage in the postal service; and using AI to identify birds through their songs, and the potential dangers of doing so.
David Stern, co-founder of IDEMS, is interviewed by Santiago Borio on the business model IDEMS has developed. The discussion presents a qualitative analysis of a three part model based around the creation of public goods, and the offer of human and digital services. It draws on successful examples and case studies combining two of the three areas.
Dr Lucie Hazelgrove Planel interviews David Stern, co-founder of IDEMS, on IDEMS’ views on agriculture. They delve into why IDEMS supports a diverse range of projects related to agriculture based on innovations that lead to sustainable development, and what this development might look like: is the future urban or rural?
In the first episode of a series on Responsible AI, Dr Lily Clements and David Stern discuss the “AI Safety Summit” that took place at Bletchley Park in November 2023. Are we listening to the right experts on AI? Should we be worried about killer robots? And will regulation stifle innovation?
Further information about some of the topics covered:
Official introduction of the summit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-introduction
Dutch childcare benefit scandal: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/10/xenophobic-machines-dutch-child-benefit-scandal/
Amazon’s AI hiring scandal: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45809919
In this episode, we delve deeper into the legal structures behind IDEMS as a social enterprise. Santiago Borio interviews David Stern, a co-founder of IDEMS, and questions him on the technicalities behind IDEMS the business, the somewhat challenging decisions made when setting it up, and the potential to demonstrate an alternative way to make sound business decisions while maintaining a thoughtfully ethical mindset.
