The Arctic is undergoing rapid changes due to climate change, making sea ice forecasting increasingly important. In this episode of the Turing Podcast, hosts Amelia Jabry and Dr. Sophie Arana discuss the critical role of AI models like IceNet in predicting sea ice conditions and aiding conservation efforts. Featuring Dr. Ellie Bowler from the British Antarctic Survey, the conversation dives into the technical details of IceNet, its applications for wildlife conservation, and the challenges of predicting sea ice dynamics. The discussion also covers the importance of these predictions for indigenous communities and wildlife that rely on the frozen Arctic landscape. Learn how AI is revolutionising our approach to these urgent environmental challenges.

Read more about our environmental forecasting work here: https://www.turing.ac.uk/blog/democratising-environmental-forecasting-age-ai

Explore IceNet: https://icenet.ai/

Find out more about Dr Ellie Bowler's publications: https://www.bas.ac.uk/profile/eller/

Read more about Dr Sophie Arana here: https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/dr-sophie-arana

Chapters:

New podcast - defending our critical national infrastructure.

Podcast host Amelia Jabry is joined by co-host and Turing Principal Research Scientist, Vasilios Mavroudis to explore how AI is reshaping both the defence and attack of vital systems like healthcare, energy and transport. With the help of special guest, Microsoft’s Director of Global AI & Cybersecurity Policy Nicholas Butts, they ask: how vulnerable are our power grids, water systems, and communications networks in the age of advanced AI? And what are organisations like the Alan Turing Institute and Microsoft are doing to protect these essential services?

Episode Notes

Please find below a list of resources and news articles that were mentioned in the podcast:

• Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024
• Glossary - AIRC
• Staying ahead of threat actors in the age of AI | Microsoft Security Blog
• https://www.thestack.technology/ai-agent-whisperer-liberates-llm-to-spout-filthy-cardy-b-lyrics/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0el31nqnpvo
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czx1qp64wrno

Ed and David chat with Professor Ibrahim Habli, Research Director at the Centre for Assuring Autonomy in the University of York, and director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI Systems. The conversation covers the topic of defining and contextualising AI safety and risk, given existence of existing safety practices from other industries. Ibrahim has collaborated with The Alan Turing Institute on the "Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance platform", or "TEA" for short, an open-source tool for developing and communicating structured assurance arguments to show how data science and AI tech adheres to ethical principles.