IE School of Science and Technology takes center stage at Hay Festival 2023
AI and sustainability were key subjects at the Segovia event for Sci-Tech faculty, students and alumni.
IE School of Science and Technology’s dean, students and alumni participated in Segovia’s Hay Festival in conversations and activities about AI, humanities, art, and sustainability.
Ikhlaq Sidhu, Dean of IE’s School of Sci Tech and John Maeda, VP of AI and Design at Microsoft talked about AI’s impact on humanity and creativity at the cherry on the tart event.
Sidhu and Maeda, authors themselves, discussed the ability of art to address human concerns of losing their creative novelty.
“We can’t get AI to write a poem that another AI wants to read. Only humans actually care to read it,” Sidhu said.
Maeda expanded the idea further and spoke about what humans look for in art and communities.
“Art is often about a community. A community likes to see people succeed. In the future, everyone will try to have AI perform in Las Vegas. But in reality, we will care more if it’s a human being,” he said. “We’re wired to protect each other.”
Sidhu explained AI’s potential to solve challenges that humanity does not yet have the economics, knowledge, and will for without AI’s help, referencing Iron Man and his AI helper J.A.R.V.I.S as a metaphor.
Maeda also participated at The Humanities in the Age of Artificial Intelligence event with data analyst and Sci-Tech alumn Juan Heslop, programmer Teresa Lufuluabo and renowned scientist Nuria Oliver.
Heslop, recent graduate from IE’s Bachelor of Data and Business Analytics talked about how AI and the humanities intersect.
“People tend to have that vision that separates the humanities from the sciences as if they are two different nuclei.”
He made a particular point about how the humanities are essential in crafting the right questions for AI.
“Although AI can give us many answers, it depends on us to ask the questions, and the humanities are one of the most important tools for asking appropriate questions.”
Heslop has won multiple prizes from the IE Foundation in poetry and essay writing.
“Before being a data analyst, I’m a human being,” he said. “As such I am interested in answering questions we all wonder about humanity, what makes us? Where do we come from?”
The Division of Arts and Humanities at IE University curated a series of virtual reality experiences called Metaverse: Through the lenses of the imagination for participants in Segovia’s Hay Festival.
Some students in the Bachelor of Environmental Sciences for Sustainability participated in The Eye of the Storm metaverse, a three-part immersive experience of a hurricane to show the effects of climate change.
Isabela del Alcazar, Global Head of Sustainability at IE University and Gonzalo Delacámara, who heads the IE Center for Water & Climate Adaptation gave a masterclass using the metaverse to teach making collaborative decisions that help the planet.
Del Alcazar also moderated Through the Eyes of Nature conversation with environment, climate and nature experts Vincent Doumeizel, Valerie Trouet, and David Lindo.
“We have an undergraduate program of Environmental Sciences for Sustainability, and I see some of professors here [the event], so I think it’s especially important to have this session on nature today,” she said, introducing the event.
Every September, IE University opens its Segovia campus as a venue for the Hay Festival, bringing together writers and thinkers to discuss innovation, humanities, and entrepreneurship.