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Alan Winfield

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Alan Winfield
Winfield in 2016
Born1956 (age 67–68)
Burton upon Trent, UK
Alma materUniversity of Hull
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Thesis Maximum-Likelihood Sequential Decoding of Convolutional Error-Correcting Codes  (1984)
Doctoral advisorDr Rodney Goodman
Websitehttps://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/AlanWinfield

Alan Winfield CEng (born 1956) is a British engineer and educator.[1] He is Professor of Robot Ethics at UWE Bristol,[2] Honorary Professor at the University of York,[3] and Associate Fellow in the Cambridge Centre for the Future of Intelligence.[4] He chairs the advisory board of the Responsible Technology Institute, University of Oxford.[5]

Winfield is known for research in swarm robotics,[6][7][8][9] robots modelling cultural evolution,[10][11][12] and self-modelling (including ethical) robots.[13][14][15][16][12] He is also known for advocacy and standards development in robot and AI ethics,[17][18][19][20] and for proposing that all robots should be equipped with the equivalent of a flight data recorder.[21]

Early life and education

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Winfield was born in Burton upon Trent where he attended Burton Grammar School.[22] He studied electronic engineering for both BSc and PhD, majoring in telecommunications, at the University of Hull from 1974 to 1984. Following his first degree he won an SERC scholarship for doctoral study in the field of information theory and error-correcting codes under the supervision of Rodney Goodman.[23]

Career

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Winfield's first faculty appointment was as lecturer in the department of electronic engineering at the University of Hull, from 1981 to 1984. During this period he wrote a guide to the programming language Forth, The Complete Forth, Wiley, 1983.[24] Winfield also invented an architecture for executing native Forth at machine level.[25]

In 1984 Winfield resigned his lectureship and founded, with Rod Goodman, Metaforth Computer Systems Ltd, with the aim of commercializing the Forth machine.[26][27]

In 1992 Winfield was appointed Hewlett-Packard Professor of Electronic Engineering and Associate Dean (Research) at UWE, Bristol,[28] where he co-founded the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. From 2009 to 2016 he was director of UWE's Science Communication Unit.[29]

Winfield is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence,[30] and the Journal of AI and Ethics.[31] He is also an associate editor of Frontiers Robotics and AI.[32]

Public engagement

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From 2006 to 2009, with Noel Sharkey, Owen Holland and Frank Burnet,[33] Winfield led public engagement project Walking with Robots.[34] The project was designed to encourage children into science and technology careers, and to involve the public in discussions about robotics research issues.[35] In 2010 Walking with Robots was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering Rooke Medal for public promotion of engineering.[36]

In 2009 Winfield won an EPSRC Senior Media Fellowship to support and develop his engagement with the press and media.[37] During the fellowship Winfield wrote popular science book Robotics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2012.[38]

Winfield has given public lectures and panel debates including: British Academy debate 'Does AI pose a threat to society?' with Maja Pantic, Samantha Payne and Christian List chaired by Claire Craig,[39][19] lectures and Q&A with Raja Chatila at the Royal Institution,[40][41] talks and Q&A with Ron Arkin at 'Smarter Together': Why AI Needs Human-Choice? in Seoul,[42] the CaSE Annual Lecture with Jim Al-Khalili and Wendy Hall, Institute of Physics,[43] and the keynote lecture for the 15th Appleton Space Conference at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.[44]

In February 2017 Winfield was a guest of Jim Al-Khalili on BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific,[45] and in October 2017 he was interviewed by Stephen Sackur for BBC TV HARDtalk.[46][47]

Robot and AI Ethics

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In 2010 Winfield was a part of a cross-disciplinary group that drafted the EPSRC/AHRC Principles of Robotics.[48][49] Inspired by Asimov's Laws of robotics, the principles take the position that "robots are simply tools, for which humans must take responsibility".[50] In 2012 Winfield joined the British Standards Institute working group on robot ethics[51] which drafted BS 8611:2016 Robots and robotic devices: Guide to the ethical design and application of robots and robotic systems.[18]

From 2015 to 2018 Winfield was a member of the Ethics Advisory Board of the EU Human Brain Project.[52] Between 2016 and 2018 he served as a member of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council on Technology Values and Policy.[53] Winfield has given evidence to both Commons and Lords select committee inquiries on Artificial Intelligence in the UK parliament.[54][55] He served as an expert advisor to the NHS Health Education England Topol Review Preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future.[56]

In 2016 Winfield joined the IEEE Global Initiative on ethics of Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. As chair of the General Principles group[57] he helped to draft Ethically Aligned Design.[58] He is a member of the initiative's executive committee,[59] and chaired the working group that drafted IEEE Standard 7001-2021 on Transparency of Autonomous Systems.[60] Winfield received an IEEE Special Recognition Award in 2021.[61]

His work has been reported by the BBC,[11][46] New Scientist,[13] The Guardian,[21] The Telegraph,[62] Nature,[15] and Scientific American.[16]

Selected publications

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  • Winfield AFT and Blackmore S. (2021) Experiments in artificial culture: from noisy imitation to storytelling robots. Phil. Trans. Royal. Soc. B 377: 20200323.
  • Winfield AF, Michael K, Pitt J and Evers V (2019) Machine Ethics: The Design and Governance of Ethical AI and Autonomous Systems, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 107, no. 3, pp. 509–517.
  • Winfield A. (2019) Ethical standards in robotics and AI. Nature Electronics 2, 46–48.
  • Winfield AFT and Jirotka M (2018), Ethical Governance is essential to building Trust in Robotic Systems, Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. A, 376: 20180085.
  • Vanderelst D and Winfield AF. (2018) An architecture for ethical robots inspired by the simulation theory of cognition. Cognitive Systems Research, 48. pp. 56–66.
  • Erbas MD, Bull L and Winfield AFT (2015), On the Evolution of Behaviours through Embodied Imitation, Artificial Life, 21 (2), 141–165, MIT Press.
  • Krause J, Winfield AFT, and Deneubourg J-L (2011), Interactive robots in experimental biology, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 26 (7).
  • Liu W and Winfield AFT (2010). A Macroscopic Probabilistic Model for Collective Foraging with Adaptation, International Journal of Robotics Research, 29 (14), 1743–1760.
  • Winfield AFT, Liu W, Nembrini J and Martinoli A (2008), Modelling a Wireless Connected Swarm of Mobile Robots, Swarm Intelligence, 2 (2–4), 241–266.

References

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  1. ^ "Alan Winfield interviewed by Peter Asaro for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Robotics History project". ieee-ras.org. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Professor Alan Winfield". uwe.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  3. ^ "School of Physics, Engineering and Technology". york.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Alan Winfield Associate Fellow". lcfi.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Responsible Technology Institute Advisory Board". ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Robots with a mind of their own". ITV News. 13 March 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Material World". BBC Radio 4. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Hive hopes". The Engineer. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  9. ^ "In Interview: Alan Winfield". sciencemuseum.org.uk. Science Museum. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Will Big Brother be cultural watershed for robots?". Times Higher Education. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  11. ^ a b Mark Ward (8 June 2012). "Dancing robots reveal cultural cues". BBC News. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  12. ^ a b Brian Gallagher (23 March 2022). "Robots Show Us Who We Are". Nautilus. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b Aviva Rutkin (10 September 2014). "Ethical trap: robot paralysed by choice of who to save". New Scientist. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  14. ^ Soline Roy (14 November 2014). "Un robot face à un dilemme". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  15. ^ a b Boer Deng (1 July 2015). "Machine ethics: The robot's dilemma". Nature. 523 (7558): 24–26. Bibcode:2015Natur.523...24D. doi:10.1038/523024a. PMID 26135432. S2CID 4459500.
  16. ^ a b Chris Baraniuk (17 August 2018). "How to Make a Robot Use Theory of Mind". Scientific American. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  17. ^ Tessel Renzenbrink (22 January 2016). "Ethical Robots and Robot Ethics". Elektor. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  18. ^ a b Hannah Devlin (18 September 2016). "Do no harm, don't discriminate: official guidance issued on robot ethics". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  19. ^ a b Sameer Rahim (20 March 2017). "Does AI pose a threat to society?". Prospect Magazine. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  20. ^ Katie Strick (31 May 2023). "Is the AI apocalypse actually coming? What life could look like if robots take over". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  21. ^ a b Ian Sample (19 July 2017). "Give robots an 'ethical black box' to track and explain decisions, say scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  22. ^ "Burton Grammar School Old Boys' Association". burtongrammar.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  23. ^ "Rodney M. Goodman Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). rod.goodman.name. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  24. ^ Alan Winfield (1983). The Complete Forth. Wiley. ISBN 9780471882350. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  25. ^ "United States Patent no 4,974,157, Data Processing System" (PDF). Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  26. ^ "APD Communications Ltd". company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  27. ^ Dick Pountain (March 1985). "Byte UK: Multitasking Forth". Byte. McGraw-Hill. pp. 363–371. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  28. ^ "Alan FT Winfield". 19 January 2004. Archived from the original on 12 April 2005. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  29. ^ "Science Communication Unit members". uwe.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  30. ^ "JETAI Editorial Board". tandfonline.com. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  31. ^ "AI and Ethics Editors". springer.com. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  32. ^ "Frontiers Learning and Evolution Editors". frontiersin.org. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  33. ^ "Frank Burnet". linkedin.com. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  34. ^ "EPSRC Grants on the web". epsrc.ukri.org. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  35. ^ Christine Evans-Pughe (4 April 2007). "Masters of their fate?". Engineering and Technology. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  36. ^ "RAEng Rooke Medal previous winners". raeng.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  37. ^ "EPSRC Grants on the Web". epsrc.ukri.org. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  38. ^ Alan Winfield (27 September 2012). Robotics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/actrade/9780199695980.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-969598-0. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  39. ^ "Does AI pose a threat to society?". thebritishacademy.ac.uk. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  40. ^ "Robot Ethics in the 21st Century". YouTube. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  41. ^ "Q&A Robot Ethics in the 21st Century". YouTube. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  42. ^ "Robot Ethics: from principles to policy". sisain.co.kr. 14 August 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  43. ^ "CaSE Annual Lecture 2018: 'Making Artificial Intelligence A Reality'". sciencecampaign.org.uk. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  44. ^ "15th Appleton Space Conference". ralspace.stfc.ac.uk. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  45. ^ "The Life Scientific". bbc.co.uk. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  46. ^ a b "Winfield HARDtalk clip 'We need to worry about artificial stupidity'". BBC News. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  47. ^ "HARDtalk full interview Alan Winfield". youtube.com. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  48. ^ "Principles of robotics". nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  49. ^ Alan Winfield (4 May 2011). "Five roboethical principles – for humans". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  50. ^ Benjamin Kuipers (2 June 2016). "Beyond Asimov: how to plan for ethical robots". The Conversation. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  51. ^ "AMT/10/1 – Ethics for Robots and Autonomous Systems". bsigroup.com. BSI. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  52. ^ "The Ethics Advisory Board (EAB)". humanbrainproject.eu. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  53. ^ "Network of Global Future Councils 2016–2018" (PDF). weforum.org. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  54. ^ "Written evidence submitted by Professor Alan Winfield (ROB0070)" (PDF). parliament.uk. February 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  55. ^ "Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence: oral evidence". parliament.uk. October 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  56. ^ "Preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future" (PDF). hee.nhs.uk. February 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  57. ^ "IEEE EAD First Edition Committees List" (PDF). IEEE. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  58. ^ "Ethically Aligned Design" (PDF). Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  59. ^ "The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems" (PDF). IEEE. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  60. ^ "IEEE Standard 7001-2021 Transparency of Autonomous Systems". IEEE. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  61. ^ "2021 IEEE SA Awards – IEEE SA Managing Director's Special Recognition Award Given to Alan Winfield". YouTube. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  62. ^ Ellie Zolfagharifard (14 March 2021). "The British engineers creating robots that 'breed'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
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