BEYOND THE ALGORITHM: Understanding AI's Power to Shape Our Economy, Culture & Future

AI systems now write code, generate images, produce news content, and increasingly make decisions that affect everyday life—from what we see online to how businesses operate and resources are allocated. What once felt experimental is now embedded in the tools, platforms, and institutions many of us rely on, often in ways that are invisible but deeply influential.

This rapid integration has been matched by an intense media narrative: AI as breakthrough, AI as threat, AI as inevitable force reshaping work, creativity, and society itself. Headlines promise transformation or warn of disruption, yet the reality is more complex than either story suggests. Understanding where the technology truly is—and what its impacts actually look like—requires stepping beyond the hype.

Recorded live at the Nightingale Room, Brighton, 10th February 2026.

PROF RON CHRISLEY

Ron is Professor of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at the School of Engineering and Informatics, Sussex University. His areas of research include: metacognition in neural networks, social and ethical issues of AI, social robotics, machine consciousness, quantum machine learning and applied logic.

DR MARK KENNEDY

Mark is Director of the Data Science Institute at Imperial College London, teaching across Ph.D., Masters, and Executive programmes. His research examines how AI and other technologies diffuse through organisations and society, shaping work, innovation, and social practices, and he develops methods like text and network analysis to study these processes.

OLI SHARPE

Oli is the creator and host of Go Meta, a YouTube channel and blog focused on exploring the "metacrisis"—complex, interconnected global issues—through a lens of philosophy, rationality, and the societal impact of AI

(Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmgV-gku1RPUUt9lEtkJmg)