The idea that artificial intelligence is taking our jobs can be scary – but in actuality, there are cases where this is a good thing. Dr Sara Webb (Swinburne University of Technology) shares one of these stories in today’s episode, which begins with a TedX talk in Melbourne and ends with a discussion of some of the many ways techniques developed for astrophysics are transforming seemingly unrelated fields. Sara is an astrophysicist based at Swinburne University and is also a published author with a talent for communicating complex ideas about our universe (and AI) for broad audiences. Listen in to hear more about the role AI is increasingly playing in astronomy, how she got into astrophysics in the first place, and more in this wide ranging episode that paints a picture of what a career in STEM can look like.

Episode credits:

Guest: Sara Webb

Co-hosts: Zena Assaad and Liz Williams

Producers: Zena Assaad, Robbie Slape, Liz Williams, Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio)

Thanks to the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science for letting us use their podcast studio to record this episode.

For the full episode transcript, visit https://algorithmicfutures.org