Event details

The inaugural CfAA Symposium is a celebration, showcase and collaborative event which brings together leading experts from academia and industry who are committed to advancing safe autonomy and AI. Taking place across three days at both the Institute for Safe Autonomy and the Malmaison in central York, the Symposium features our BIG Argument, AMLAS, and SACE as well as insightful panel discussions around safety cases for AGI, the expansion of harms and the engineering challenges around safe AI.

Symposium Agenda*

Day 1 (optional) - Institute for Safe Autonomy, University of York, Tuesday 23rd September

Morning session: 09:30am - 12:45pm, Afternoon session: 13:45pm - 17:00pm, catering included

Join our 1-day tutorial workshop, taking place immediately before the Symposium. The day will focus on how safety engineering principles can be applied to complex, autonomous and AI-based systems and will be led by York's highly experienced team of educators. Attendees will gain a deeper knowledge of the processes around understanding risks of autonomous and AI based systems and how to balance this whilst exploiting their massive potential for positive impact in our daily lives. Prior experience in safety engineering or AI is not required.

The content presented in this workshop is directly derived from our sought-after portfolio of continuous professional development (CPD) modules. The CfAA team will be on hand afterwards to discuss bespoke CPD needs, answer your questions, and discuss current best practice. 

The topics covered in the sessions will include: 

• Core concepts such as risk, assurance arguments and safety analysis and why these arguments apply to the latest generation of AI-based autonomy
• An introduction to our guidance suite featuring the BIG Argument, SACE, AMLAS and PRAISE
• An overview of the current regulatory and standards landscape in a number of key sectors including automotive, healthcare, and maritime
• How AI safety standards are currently being developed

Places are limited to 40 participants

Cost: £180

Day 2 - Malmaison, York City Centre, Wednesday 24th September

Morning session:

09:00am - 09:30am Symposium opening address from Centre Director, Professor John McDermid, OBE, FREng

09:30am - 12 noon (with break) CfAA Spotlight SACE: Assuring Autonomous Systems in the Real World

Dr Richard Hawkins is joined by industry safety specialists from the maritime sector to discuss the impact of our SACE guidance when applied to real-world scenarios. More details to follow. 

12:00 noon - 13:30 Poster session and networking lunch

In this extended lunch session, our CfAA researchers will be showcasing their latest work through an interactive poster session led by Senior Researcher, Dr Victoria Hodge.

Afternoon session:

13:30pm - 14:45pm What's happening with safety assurance in industry sectors?

Session info coming soon

14:45pm - 16:30pm CfAA Spotlight: AMLAS - Assuring ML as part of autonomous systems

In this session, led by Dr Colin Paterson, we look at the evolution of AMLAS, from idea to practical solution and its growing adoption across multiple sectors. Dr Paterson will be joined by academics and industry experts who will share their experiences of using AMLAS to assure the safety of systems which use a machine learning component. 

16:30pm - 17:15pm Panel discussion: Safe AI - a safety engineering challenge 

Chaired by Professor John McDermid OBE FREng, panel speakers tbc

Evening session:

19:00 Symposium dinner to be held at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall in central York

Day 3 - Malmaison, York City Centre, Thursday 25th September

Morning session:

09:00am - 11:15am CfAA Spotlight: The BIG Argument - how to assure a system which includes AI?

Led by Professor Ibrahim Habli, one of the authors of the BIG Argument this session offers a deep dive into our BIG research. Hear from industry partners, Odd Ivar Haugen, Principal Researcher at DNV Group Research and Development, Dr Ernest Lim, Director of Science at Ufonia, and CfAA Research Associate Dr Kate Preston, on how BIG is already being applied in real-world scenarios and its future potential to solve one of the biggest challenges around AI safety.   

11:15am - 12:30pm Panel discussion: What does a safety case for Generative AI look like?

As questions around the impact of generative AI continue to grow, how can we build a safety case that provides the requisite assurance necessary to keep everyone involved as safe as possible? Chaired by Professor Ibrahim Habli, panelists tbc. 

12:30pm - 13:00pm Lunch

Afternoon session:

13:00pm -13:45 pm Panel session: Extending harms in the context of AI Safety

Chaired by Dr Laura Fearnley, Research Associate in Safe and Ethical AI, this session explores AI safety specifically in the context of expanding harms as the technology develops. Panelists tbc.

13:45pm - 14:15pm Closing remarks from Professor John McDermid OBE FREng

Symposium ends

Additional information:

Full catering is provided on all three days. 

Location:

University of York, Institute for Safe Autonomy, Deramore Lane, York YO10 5FT
Malmaison, 2 Rougier Street, York, YO90 1UU

 

*Please note some timings on the agenda may be subject to change.

 

 

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