About Mic Drop #1: Jasper Wognum

Article written by  Kshitiz Sharma originally posted as a medium post 

The title on the poster was intriguing enough to attend the talk at the end of a working day. The Mic Drop was by Jasper Wognum, founder of Braincreators.

Jasper was one of the first enrolled academic students of Artificial Intelligence in Amsterdam, when the term was in the very nascent stages of evolution in early 2000. His experience in the domain now spans over 20 years.

The talk was an overview of the realm of Artificial Intelligence, meandering from specific project showcases in varied domains to the core nature of AI rooted in math, and not magic!

The domains Jasper has been working with range from using data to make for a better radio content experience, to delivery of posts/couriers at correct addresses in Amsterdam. The eclectic mix of the possibilities with technology seemed promising.

His approach of working in collaboration with the diverse companies was inspiring. The respective companies took the role of domain experts while his team intervened through a systematic solutions approach aided by Technology/Artifical Intelligence.

He stressed on the relevance of technology/AI aiding humans achieve the task efficiently—not necessarily replacing them.

The questions raised by the audience towards the end shifted the talk to the larger questions of right and wrong — the overlap of ethics and design/technology decision. Jasper had an interesting point to make about this — somebody will do it eventually, better to intervene when you are confident of making more informed decisions, aware of your biases.

I am Kshitiz from India, presently in an exchange semester at Digital Society School—working and learning, making and doing. 🙂