Starlab NV/SA
2001 Research Fellowship in
Applied Artificial Intelligence

Christopher Altman
Pierre Laclede Honors College

Precis. This summer I held a research fellowship at Starlab, a multidisciplinary think tank based in Brussels, Belgium whose partners include MIT, Oxford, and Ghent University. Starlab focuses on advanced scientific research projects with significant long-term potential impact for humanity – active research topics include quantum computation, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, time travel, materials science, biophysics and genetics. In direct conjunction with the fellowship I was invited to attend a number of leading international conferences in science and technology in the US, UK and EU.

For the past two years I held a research collaboration with the Starlab CAM Brain Team, jointly financed by grants through the European Union and Starlab NV/SA. The principal investigator has made it a priority of his research to focus on the ethical questions raised by long-term consequences of the development of artificial intelligence, and is widely recognized as a world authority on the subject. Long-term challenges posed to society include the integration of increasingly lifelike robots and the gradual replacement of human work activity by artificial intelligence.

Starlab's research fellowship provided an open intellectual environment for me to explore scientific collaborations with colleagues. I had the opportunity to cultivate links with many top researchers in related fields and to freely converse about new ideas in developing applications for technology. Recently, due to the prevailing economic climate for technology startups and the loss of a critical investor, the Brussels laboratory was recently forced to close its doors. The cross-disciplinary nature of the laboratory was an creative and ambitious effort to foster innovation, and it will certainly be remembered for its unique vision to create a utopian scientific environment. Though the Brussels facilities were closed, Starlab Barcelona retained its support through the Spanish government and remains active in advanced research and development in sensors, algorithms, and technologies.