Ad astra per AGI.
Space is again a growing field with technological progress, commercial significance, political importance and impact. How can AGI contribute to space and benefit from it? Are there use cases we'd love to apply AI/ML/proto-AGI to but that are usually full of barriers due to concerns or ignorance? But the extreme space environment requires radical approaches — could we use space for bleeding-edge experimentation, ambitious applications, and as a general progress amplifier? Will the increasing political and commercial competition remove barriers and create favorable conditions?
Let's discuss the scientific & technological, commercial, and political landscapes of the space community, its culture of being ambitious, innovative, highly regulated, and risk-averse at the same time, and identify opportunities to use as a lever for AGI research and applications.
Push: Which proto-AGI and AGI components would be ready for application now and within the next 15 years? What use cases could we come up with?
Pull: Which uses cases should we be looking for that (could) have demand for AI/ML/proto-AGI and would support and amplify their development?
Roadmap synchronization: How do we connect the projected or planned development paths of space and AGI for mutual benefit?
Geopolitical dynamics and trends: What are the existing and potential geopolitical fault lines? Will the increased competition allow for favorable regulation and funding of ambitious projects? How do we navigate competing power structures, formulate and implement own interests, and keep our scientific and commercial communities intact (i.e. communication and collaboration)? Who are the most influential actors?
Market dynamics and trends: Old and new space, upstream and downstream, a range of near to long-term business models and an increasing availability of funding sources. Where could we have the most impact and what would provide the greatest fun and profit?
Catalysts and barriers: Which conditions could support or restrain us? Have those conditions single causes or do they come in packages? Are there recurring patterns?
Concrete: Are there specific agency, business, or other opportunities we should talk about? Which applications excite you the most or do you find promising? Let's discuss examples from R&D (e.g., lab automation, materials science, space medicine [including genetic engineering, neuroprosthetics], astrobiology), operations (e.g., vehicle/fleet control, on-site experiments and analytics [instead of or complementing human presence], decision-making, ISRU & self-replicating systems), management (e.g., mission planning and control, outreach/storytelling, program management).
Technology transfer: Which space technologies we'd apply AI to have a moderate to high potential to be useful for Earthly applications in a short term and vice versa?
The aim of this workshop is to generate a set of applicable ideas, identify technologies and opportunities, have a community of interested people who want to continue to combine their work on AGI with space.
Date: August 2x, 2018, $time — $time
Venue: tbd
Contributions:
Format: Informal statements are okay, not exceeding two pages (except for images and data), PDF or text email preferred — a suggested template will be provided in early April
Submission: Directly to ws2018@ai4.space
Deadline: July 10, 2018 (acceptance notification on July 25, 2018)
Publication: Contributions will be published on this website
Legal: Please make sure that your contributions don't contain materials that are restricted by export control or intellectual property rights.
Communication: Upfront coordination and discussions are encouraged. In case you're not sure whether something can or should be published or want to suggest topics, please write to Jan at jk@exponential.berlin
tbd
Updated: 25Mar2018