Navigating the ethical minefield that the development of artificial intelligence brings with it is an area of interest for Everett Lacey, who will be giving a talk on the subject at a TEDx conference next month.

Mr Lacey, an American with a long line of Bermudian family members, will travel to the island for the first time in about a decade to deliver the address, which explores how advanced systems can serve humanity in ethical and impactful ways.

He works as a senior systems software engineer at NVIDIA in Silicon Valley, California, where he leads a team of engineers focused on accelerating AI applications.

His biography said he has a passion for the intersection of AI technologies and moral philosophy.

Mr Lacey told The Royal Gazette: “I work in this field of AI and the average person is either really excited or really scared. I find it fascinating, but I have some opinions on how it should be used correctly.

“There are fascinating things the systems are capable of, such as medical imaging. We are able to detect different diseases better than a doctor can ― in some scenarios.

“We are using it to detect wildfires earlier, we have wildfire early detection systems. These are good uses of AI.

“On the other end, there are some things that are cause for concern to me, such as students relying heavily on things like Chat GPT to complete assignments.

“I think that pattern can really do us a disservice. People need to think deeply about how the technology is used and how they interact with it, on a day-to-day basis."

Mr Lacey explained that NVIDIA is a company that makes graphics cards called Graphics Processing Units, specialised electronic circuits originally designed for accelerating computer graphics.

Traditionally used by video gamers, the cards have become larger and more powerful, and are therefore able to do more things such as advanced mathematics.

He explained: “We found out that GPUs can be used in accelerated computing, doing the same operations significantly faster.

“It has paved the way for rapid developments in AI that were too expensive to do on a computer. Previously, you would need a whole room of computers to train an AI system.

“The GPU is at the core of where we are right now. AI uses lots of GPUs as they are very powerful processors.

“Myself and my team are building a large software factory where we can pump out lots of difficult types of AI. We are taking popular AI models and making them faster.”

Mr Lacey said he had a deep personal connection to Bermuda. His father was born here and he traces his family roots through generations of Bermudians. He has extended family members who still live here.

His biography on the TEDx website said: “His ties to the island inspire his commitment to leveraging technology in ways that respect heritage, culture and community wellbeing.”

When he visits Bermuda, he hopes to give a talk in a school.

He added: “If there was a time to get technical, now would be it. I had to read books and learn to code, now you might not need to.

“Now is the year to really dive into this technology because if you don’t, somebody else will. It is easier to get into it now so don’t miss the boat. It is still new enough that it can be leveraged to be a super power.”

• Tickets for TEDx are on sale and available throughwww.ptix.bm.For more information, visit www.tedxbermuda.com