Post by Fran Kiernan

Very often when I talk about the importance of understanding the basic foundations of software engineering and resource management when dealing with AI people's eyes glaze over, as their motive is most often relating to short-term solutions for their current problems. For me there is much more to it. AI is advancing at a rate beyond which society is equipped for. My interest in AI began in 1997 with a nerdy arts related question, and has taken me on a journey through disaster preparedness, biological and public health data into medicine. We need to me mindful not just of where we are currently but also where we have come from, and where we are going. We are at a critical inflection point for humanity, and we need to develop the skills for this new era. Here is the story of my entry into the world of artificial neural networks, machine learning and artificial intelligence... which began in 1996, and resulted in my first model in 1997!