Adam A. Stokes
Welcome to my personal webpage, where you’ll find a collection of essays on topics I’m actively trying to understand. These are not static publications but live documents that evolve over time as I think in public, refine my views, and respond to new ideas and conversations. If you wish to discuss anything I’ve written, or wish to engage with me on a project or a talk, then please contact me. My primary email address is a.a.stokes@ed.ac.uk.I am Full Professor and Head of the Institute for Bioengineering at the University of Edinburgh and a research-led advisor on robotics, AI, and bioinspired innovation. Outside of the academy I am an active entrepreneur and consultant. I work with organisations to stress-test assumptions about emerging technologies and chart practical paths from prototype to deployment. These essays capture the thinking behind that work—I offer them as a public resource and also as an invitation to collaborate.
My most recent post is shown below, see all essays here.
Which new technologies are pushing the boundaries?
The Digital Frontiers Showcase celebrated the fact that 2023 marked the sixtieth anniversary of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence activities at the University of Edinburgh. The showcase consisted of talks and panel discussions with the University’s world leading experts in data science and digital technologies including AI, Quantum Computing, robotics and novel chip architecture. The programme provided a realistic roadmap for some of the profound long-term impacts that the research that is pushing the boundaries may bring for businesses and society. It also covered some of the novel solutions and capabilities that will be deployed in the near term to transform our approaches to the climate crisis and fundamental challenges in health and healthcare. In this live essay I provide my current thinking on the central question: “Which new technologies are pushing the boundaries?” Watch the panel discussion here. Natural Language Processing We have crossed a threshold where...