August 22, 2023 (Cape Cod, MA) – With the rise of artificial intelligence and growing concerns about how it will impact all aspects of daily life, the Cape Cod Technology Council will dive into the topic as part of its upcoming educational lecture series.
The nonprofit, which hosts a monthly First Friday talk, will kick off the series on Friday, September 8, 7:30-9 am, with Hardy Dynamics CEO Kyle Hardy of Yarmouth, speaking about AI’s importance to our country’s military defense.
On October 20, Cape Cod Community College professor Patricia Allen will tackle ChatGPT and its uses, and on November 3, Gartner Vice President Ben Pring, co-author of “Monster: A Tough Love Letter on Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives and Future,” will focus on the need to manage and regulate AI.
Registration for the three talks, which will be held at Cape Cod Community College’s Wilkens Science & Engineering Center, is available by clicking this link.
“AI is a transformative technology that is going to change the way we live and work forever,” said Tech Council Executive Director Steve Smith. “They are talking about it as the fifth industrial revolution. Right now, we’re at an inflection point with technology that it’s so transformative we’re not going to recognize the world in 10 years.”
While artificial intelligence will have global implications, Smith said, it’s also important to consider what effects it will have, both positive and negative, locally. That is one of the reasons the Tech Council is bringing these conversations surrounding AI to the region “to really talk about the relevance it will have on the local business community and local community, at large,” Smith said.
The discussions will kick off with Hardy, who has served as an intelligence officer for over two decades, has served multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, and Eastern Europe, and is currently serving in the Navy Reserves. He previously led artificial intelligence projects at the Department of Homeland Security, the US Army Asymmetric Warfare Group, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Earlier this year, he launched Hardy Dynamics as a way for the Department of Defense to utilize his expertise as both an intelligence officer and a former soldier. The firm, which is based out of Tampa, Florida, offers an umbrella of AI and ML (machine learning) services that includes business consulting to defense companies; integrating advanced image recognition software as well as large language model software in defense applications; and connecting defense firms with on-site consultants to better utilize AI to support military operations.
While Hardy didn’t underscore the concerns about AI, he said “the most successful companies will not work against it but work with it.”
The positives to AI are “the extreme pattern recognition that humans can’t pick up, especially when looking at billions of data points,” he said.
All of this will play a critical role, especially when it comes to the country’s defense. “Unlike the counterterrorism threat, AI poses an existential threat to the U.S.,” he said. “This is really a space race. This is our generation’s Oppenheimer moment with key peer level adversaries. We’re potentially at-risk of losing this war and we don’t want to squirrel away the advantages we have in our tech sector.”
His talk next month will highlight the important role that small- to mid-size companies like Hardy Dynamics will play in supporting the country’s defense efforts by using AI/ML as a tool. “I’m really excited to kick off this series next month, especially being a start-up and being a recent transplant to the Cape,” he said. “It’s a phenomenal honor to evangelize the work I’ve been doing with the Department of Defense.”
The Tech Council will continue its AI series into next year, interspersing it with discussions on other topics, including plastic recycling and cellular technologies, pertinent to the region. The series is made possible by the Council’s Sustaining Sponsors, Cape Light Compact, Cape Cod 5, and OpenCape Corporation.
About Cape Cod Technology Council
Founded in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, the Cape Cod Technology Council is a membership-based, events-oriented nonprofit that promotes technology and its understandings on Cape Cod, the Islands, and in Southeastern Massachusetts. The Council’s work includes supporting the direction of development of the technology infrastructure in the region to advance the growth, effectiveness, and competitiveness of member organizations; assist in the technology education for the advancement of its members as well as future generations through a variety of programs; and provide unique, meaningful, and topical presentations, discussions, forums, and events focused on technology. To learn more about the Technology Council, visit www.cctechcouncil.org.