Cambridge Forum kicks off a new series AI: Servant or Master with Professor Gary Marcus, one of the most trusted voices in artificial intelligence, well-known for his knowledge about the challenges and risks of AI.

In his latest book, 'Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure that AI Works for Us', Marcus shows how Big Tech is taking advantage of us, how AI could make things much worse, and most importantly, what we can do to safeguard our democracy, our society and our future.
Marcus explains the potential risks of AI in the clearest possible terms and how Big Tech has effectively captured policymakers. Marcus offers eight suggestions for what a coherent AI policy should cover from data rights to layered AI oversight to meaningful tax reform. In addition to being a scientist and best-selling author, Marcus was founder and CEO of Geometric.AI, a machine-learning company acquired by Uber.

Marcus is joined by an international expert on AI - Stuart J Russell, Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. Russell is co-chair of the World Economic Forum Council on AI and the OECD Expert Group on AI Futures; he is also a US representative to the Global Partnership on AI. His textbook "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" (with Peter Norvig) is used in over 1,500 universities in 135 countries. His current concerns include the threat of autonomous weapons & the long-term future of artificial intelligence and its relation to humanity. The latter topic is the subject of his book, "Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control".

The final performance of the Museum of Science's "Mars Symphony" is set for this Thursday.

At The Hip Hop Transformation, young people are given professional tools and guidance to make music — and a crash course in the history of the art.

GBH Music and JazzBoston are co-hosting a new series to showcase the breadth of incredible jazz talent in the Greater Boston area. The event is held on the second Thursday of every month through February.

This month, pianist Hey Rim Jeon performs a mixture of original compositions and innovative solo piano arrangement of jazz standards and new repertoire from her upcoming album as well as her critically acclaimed albums Groovitude (2022) and Mona Lisa Puzzle (2009).

Rita Duffy was born in Belfast and graduated with an honorary BA and MA in Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 1985. One of Ireland's groundbreaking visual artists, she has produced acclaimed public art projects, including her early project Thaw, inspired by the Belfast ship Titanic. This post-conflict project explored Belfast’s relationship with the iceberg and aimed to connect local experiences of colonialism and sectarianism with a universal climate crisis. In 2011, she was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to work at the Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster. She was recognized for her contribution to visual arts in Ireland in 2018 and elected to Aosdana, Ireland’s elected “people of the arts.” She was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Architects and was an associate at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she looked at the role of art in post-conflict societies. In 2024, she was appointed the Charlotte Maxeke-Mary Robinson Irish South Africa Research Chair at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

Her recent projects include The Shirt Factory Project, The Souvenir Shop, Soften the Border, and The Raft. She has held residencies at the Long Room Hub at Trinity College in Dublin and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Duffy’s work is held in museum and private collections worldwide and her public art projects continue to grow in scale and ambition, exploring issues of female identity, history and politics, and borders.

Produced by Boston College Lowell Humanities Series, cosponsored by Irish Studies at Boston College and the Art, Art History, and Film Department.

For world-recognized scientist and visionary, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, trees are a religion. In her eyes, forests are cathedrals that present humanity with numerous divine gifts including the source of the planet’s potential salvation. “I want to remind you that the forest is far more than a source of timber.  It is our collective medicine cabinet.  It is our lungs. It is the regulatory system for our climate and our oceans.  It is the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren. It is the mantle of our planet and our sacred home.”

Orphaned at a young age in Ireland, Diana was the last child to receive a full Druidic education which immersed her in ancient Celtic wisdom before she attended University College, Cork where she gained an extensive scientific education. But she never forgot the old wisdom and Diana has spent a lifetime trying to understand trees and share that knowledge with the world. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades for her work and has spent decades curating, planting and restoring the global forest. In addition to authoring numerous books on the topic Diana is also the subject of the documentary Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees (available on Amazon).

 Our Green Heart is Diana’s latest book, and in it she challenges us all to dig deeper into the science of forests and the ways they will save us from climate breakdown – and then do our part to plant and protect them.

“The children of earth’s future need a world where these essential connections are revitalized and respected.  We can give them this future by pledging to revive the global forest.  Pick up a trowel.  Plant a native tree every year for six years.  It’s that simple”.

The Great Abolitionist is the first major biography of Charles Sumner in over 50 years. Employing his “vast knowledge of 19th-century Boston and its diffident attitude toward slavery and integration,” Stephen Puleo calls his book a “biographical history” that brings to life two decades when the nation’s very fate hung in the balance -- when slavery consumed Congressional debate, America careened toward civil war, and the country dealt with the war, the assassination of a President, and the monumental task of Reconstruction. Before, during, and after the war, Charles Sumner’s voice rang strongest, bravest, and most unwavering, often at the cost of great personal sacrifice. He moved America toward the twin goals of abolitionism and equal rights for emancipated people, which he fought for literally until the day he died. From the award-winning author-historian we’ll gain a deeper understanding of this remarkable abolitionist and the time in which he lived.

Interest in the novel has continued, and now “The Emperor of Ocean Park” has been adapted into a streaming series starring Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker.

In the book, “Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard: A History,” authors Thomas Dresser and Richard Taylor trace the presence of Black Americans on the Vineyard back to pre-Revolutionary War, through the Underground Railroad and the Civil War, and into the 20th century and the Great Migration.

The singer-songwriter, 85, joins The Culture Show for a conversation ahead of her show at Tanglewood at the end of August.