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TEDx Tamworth invited James Poulter to give a talk on learning to live with AI. James begins with a humorous and vivid story about a business trip to Paris in 2008. On the trip, a boat ride hosted by a client named François went disastrously wrong when they accidentally ripped apart part of another docked boat. The client calmly said, “We will deal with it tomorrow,” and continued sailing. This phrase becomes a metaphor for our current relationship with artificial intelligence (AI).
James draws a connection between that moment and our global approach to emerging technologies like AI, knowing something is going wrong but putting off dealing with it. He reflects on the rapid technological changes since 2008, such as the rise of the iPhone, blockchain, and now AI tools like ChatGPT, which reached 100 million users in just two months, faster than any technology in history.
The talk delves into how AI is transforming society, particularly large language models (like ChatGPT). These models don’t work like traditional algorithms but are trained on massive amounts of data, allowing them to predict and generate language similarly to how humans process familiar stories and phrases.
Poulter argues that AI now functions as a kind of “new brain,” embedded in everything from phones to watches. However, he warns that this tech revolution needs a human counterbalance, a “gut.” Drawing from the concept of the brain-gut axis in biology, he urges people to develop stronger intuition and ethics around how we use AI.
He compares this to how society handled the dangers of cars: not only through regulation but also through public safety campaigns like “Clunk Click” to encourage seatbelt use. Similarly, he calls for a cultural shift where people learn to “put on the seatbelt” with AI, to use it thoughtfully and responsibly.
Finally, he emphasises a critical question: Where is the human in the loop? Are we actively guiding AI, passively observing, or dangerously removed from its decisions?
