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Google Developers Group community lead Ali El-Sharif said it’s too late to fear the use of artificial intelligence in daily life — it’s already here and its use is expanding rapidly.
And it’s why this month’s Windsor-Essex DevFest will focus on what El-Sharif feels is the proactive step of harnessing AI’s strengths and potential while setting the guardrails for its ethical and safe deployment.
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This year’s DevFest will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 16 at the University of Windsor’s Odette School of Business building (401 Sunset Ave.).
“It’s a disruptive technological change to the way we will work that’s coming whether we’re ready or not,” El-Sharif said.
“We can be at the forefront of all the exciting possibilities. If we learn and become early adopters, we can have a positive experience.
“At the same time, we have to be aware of the potential harm — job losses, discrimination, harmful content. Hence, it’s important to understand generative AI and how to handle it responsibly.”
The DevFest attracts local tech enthusiasts, innovators and developers and is one of the area’s largest annual gatherings of the tech community.
The fee to attend is $15 without lunch, $30 including lunch and $25 with lunch for high school students.
For more information and to register visit wedevfest.com online.
“This year, we’re going beyond the buzzwords and providing tangible skills for developers looking to integrate AI into their projects,” said El-Sharif, who added the festival already had over 210 registrants before the end of the week. He’s expecting the final tally to be about 300.
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“From building large language models to addressing critical safety and ethical challenges, attendees will leave equipped to leverage AI responsibly,” he told the Star.
El-Sharif said AI has already crept into daily use in the financial, industrial, autonomous vehicles, hospitality/entertainment, health care, agriculture and communication sectors among many others.
“Solving new problems,” El-Sharif said about what’s ahead for AI.
“I’m excited to see what it will do in medicine and what it will do for innovation in agriculture. It’ll be exciting to see it take productivity to the next level.”
For those attending the local DevFest, there will be 25 sessions featuring speakers and experts from across North America discussing all aspects of AI.
Among the presenters will be SolasAI’s chief technology and innovation officer Nicholas Schmidt. Philadelphia-based Schmidt recently testified before the U.S. Senate about the responsible use of AI and will be covering that topic in Windsor.
There will also be some local success stories sharing their journey and goals using AI.
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Windsor Analytics co-founders Harjeet Singh and Archit Singh will conduct a seminar on using computer vision and sports analytics to help coaches and athletes breakdown and improve performances.
ABC Technologies (Windsor) senior director, IT operations Mina Girges, who attended the first DevFest in 2018 as a junior developer, returns as speaker on the topic of fending off cyberattacks in AI.
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“The purpose of DevFests is to connect, learn and grow the tech community together,” El-Sharif said.
“I know from first-hand experience, a number of high school students who have participated went on to careers, education pathways in engineering and IT as a result of the excitement they developed at DevFest.”
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