Blog – Page 5 – Welcome

Dr Marie Oldfield to talk on AI in Justice and Peace to school children

August 2, 2022

Marie Oldfield, Director, has been delivering a talk this week for Coding and More on the ethics around AI in justice and peace. This was a special talk as the age range was 8-18 so the messaging had to be correct. Speaking to such a wide range of ages can be difficult but Marie stated “tailoring your message is crucial to be able to engage the widest variety of people, I hope that with this talk the children and young adults take away the issues with implementing technology in this area and it opens a discussion on the wider ethical considerations”.

Working with Low Carbon Solent for Future Sustainability

August 2, 2022

By Marie Oldfield CStat, CSci, FIScT Marie, Director of Oldfield Consultancy, is currently providing expert input into the Low Carbon Solent initiative in conjunction with the University of Portsmouth. Small to Medium sized enterprises (T&C apply) are eligible for free research support from BSc, MSc and/or PhD students under this fully funded government initiative. To find out more information click here This linkage between academia and industry is crucial to encourage the workplaces of the future to be more joined up with research capabilities.

Dr Marie Oldfield, Director, Speaks at Chatham House Panel

August 2, 2022

By Marie Oldfield, CStat, CSci, FIScT I was pleased to be invited to a prestigious panel at Chatham House to discuss the application and misapplication of artificial intelligence. Given my recent papers on the increasing number of ethical issues and legal cases being brought against AI that has not been developed correctly and has subsequently been withdrawn after causing serious harm I felt that this was a very timely discussion. During the panel we discussed data, AI implementation, testing and how practitioners can work towards developing more ethical AI. This topic is explored in my current suite of publications available on researchgate

Published Paper: Condition Based Monitoring and AI Implementation on Complex Platforms

August 1, 2022

By Marie Oldfield (CStat, CSci, FIScT) Condition Based Monitoring (CBM) can be used on platforms from Wind Turbines to Submarines. Recently there has been much interest in the academic community towards using AI to monitor systems. In journals there are many technical articles discussing potential ways forward but with the emphasis on simple systems. As we move towards potential technological developments that would lead to AI becoming integrated into CBM it is pertinent to examine where integrating AI into complex systems has been a success or a failure. Implementation of AI systems in industry has seen mixed results. From success in the wind industry to failure in aerospace. The complexity of the platforms becomes a significant issue when intertwined with AI. AI having significant control over the platform or systems and the natural feel of the platform removed from the human operator can cause unintended and fatal consequences, as in the Boeing Air Max Disasters, where the AI was operating independently of the Pilot. This lack of interface between the AI and the Pilot, or the ability to switch off the autopilot highlighted the critical need to human-computer interfacing. Given the complexity of systems, it is more important

Published Paper: AI and Education

August 1, 2022

By Marie Oldfield (CStat, CSci, FIScT) As of 2020 there is still no subject benchmark statement for Artificial Intelligence or modelling. What does this mean? All subjects have a benchmark statement. This tells the educational institution what needs to be taught and when and describes the building blocks for progression in the subject. This statement also describes assessments that need to take place in order to assure the workplace that the candidate is indeed qualified in the area of the statement. These statements are quite prescriptive, but it seems not updated, very often. New statements seem to be quite behind in being created. The education industry has not caught up to the fact that data science and artificial intelligence are growing areas. This is problematic as they have been tagged on as subjects to existing degrees. This causes issues in the area of ethic and modelling where processes that may not even have been taught in the previous statements on statistics or mathematics are now critical to subjects such as data science and artificial intelligence. The education on these topics is no longer purely academic is has an inherent outward focus on users and operators of this technology, Therefore

Dr Marie Oldfield, Director, Published in InfoSec Magazine

July 22, 2022

How Humans Can Positively Interact with Technology? As Technology becomes more intertwined with the fabric of our daily lives and she parents schedule Alexa to read bedtime stories to their children, Marie asks, what does healthy interaction with technology look like? This involved understanding and maintaining freedoms that come with being inherently human and questioning what tasks are mundane and what are exciting. Is it exciting to watch your child grow and ask questions and for you to be the person that can provide explanation to a growing young adult, or is this a mundane task better suited to an Alexa? Would you leave your child alone with the Alexa reading a story, and if so, what if the story is hijacked and full of material you would never wish your child to hear? How much do you trust Technology? Healthy interaction involves the same approach as we take to work, shutting the door on it and having some quality time with our loved ones and family. Don’t take your tech to the restaurant, turn it off in an evening, enjoy the basic, fundamental human comforts that interaction has to offer. Read more here

Dr Marie Oldfield Director, Published in Business Cloud

July 22, 2022

Black Mirror is already here. Should we be afraid? At a recent panel Marie discussed dehumanisation and how people can start to devalue both others and themselves through excessive technology use. We might think Black Mirror is a dramatic TV programme but this and other such as Person of Interest and Humans are all reflections of what is currently happening in our society. As we give up control to technology and become more controlled by it we begin to lose essential freedoms that make us human. We need to ask ourselves one question, what kind of future society do we want to live in? Read more here

Dr Marie Oldfield, Director, to Supervise MSc Students at the University of Southampton

June 23, 2022

By Marie Oldfield CStat, CSci, FIScT Our Director Marie Oldfield has been invited to supervise MSc Students from the University of Southampton on their final dissertation. Marie is pleased to be able to give back to the community and states “advising students on their final MSc dissertation from an industry point of view really does create a better joined up ecosystem between industry and academia, this is essential for industry to get the skilled professionals it needs for the future”. Marie has an upcoming journal article in the Journal for Humanistic Mathematics (August) that discusses the UK Education system and the lack of a joined up approach between industry and academia.

Dr Marie Oldfield Chairs Panel on AI Ethics at DTX

May 29, 2022

By Marie Oldfield CStat, CSci, FIScT Our Director was invited to chair a panel on AI and Ethics in April 2022. This discussion was crucial as it regards how we implement ethics into the tech industry. This is not straightforward and, as you have read on our publications, there are many challenges that we have to work our way through before practitioners have a level playing field, correct guidance and robust best practise. However, we ware working towards this in terms of accreditation implementation and software specifically designed for improving the modelling journey for all practitioners. Watch this space!

Oldfield Consultancy at London Law Expo

May 29, 2022

By Marie Oldfield CStat, CSci, FIScT On the back of successful legal statistician expert testimony direct to court and for multiple court cases we attended the London Law Expo in May 2022. The day was a rounding success and we connected with many decision makers, law firms and companies with general training needs around data, visualisation and statistics. We are looking forward to working further with the legal industry and being able to add value to the legal system as well as court cases. “We provide assurance and expert input to ensure that the client has the best evidential analysis in an explainable format”