Each Shavuot is an opportunity to ask and explore what kind of Torah we need to "download" to respond to the challenges and opportunities before us in the coming year. Therefore, this year we are diving into the world of Artificial Intelligence. We will explore the different ways its revelations are a blessing or a curse. The evening will feature guest speakers who will unpack the impact of this new technology from a number of different angles as we enjoy light fare and cheesecake tasting! We'll close the evening with Q&A from the community and a Jewish response from Dr Joel Hoffman.

**This evening is open to members and the community at large.**

Dr Joel M Hoffman

A popular speaker, Dr. Joel M Hoffman focuses on "bringing the Bible to life" and is known for his "fresh insights and interpretations about religious life in the 21st century." He has been invited to appear before audiences on all six inhabitable continents, including at Limmud conferences around the world, at the world's second largest Rotary club, and for a TED talk on translating the Bible.

He has authored or contributed to some two dozen books, and served on the faculties of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and HUC-JIR in New York City. When not teaching or writing, he usually has a camera in his hand. He lives in the New York City area. You can read more about his work at https://joelmhoffman.com/

Mark Pesce

Described as one of the 'Architects of the Web', Mark Pesce co-invented the technology for 3D on the Web - laying the foundations for the metaverse. He has written nine books, including Getting Started with ChatGPT and AI Chatbots. Pesce was for seven years a judge on the ABC's The New Inventors, founded postgraduate programs at the University of Southern California, and the Australian Film Television and Radio School. He is an Honorary Associate in the Digital Culture Program at University of Sydney.  Pesce is also a multiple-award-winning columnist for The Register and is a professional futurist and public speaker. Pesce recently co-founded Wisely AI, a consultancy with a mission "to help organizations use AI safely and wisely." You can read more about his work at https://new.markpesce.com/

Dr Gary Miller

Dr Gary Miller is a Software Engineer in Computer Science who recently finished his Ph.D. at University of Technology Sydney with NSTE congregant and Board Member, Dr Robin Braun. His research and work focuses on democratizing access to computational literacy and the future of software engineering. He works at The Helix Collective, a venture studio, specializing in getting start ups off the ground. 

Gary is a creative and highly experienced technologist across a broad spectrum of web, cloud and enterprise IT systems and technologies. Although he really stands out as a high level solution architect, Gary is also an able developer on Java back-end systems and front-end web applications in Google Web Toolkit (a Java framework). Gary has practical experience in programming language development in ANTLR, business solutions in Excel, and numerous other technologies. Gary has worked for and with organisations ranging from multinationals, working on large assignments, to small start-ups with just a few other people and limited resources. He is highly entrepreneurial in spirit and is a very creative and lateral thinker. You can read more about his work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/millergary/

Stéphane Marouani

Stéphane is the Managing Director at MathWorks Australia. MathWorks provides software to accelerate the pace of discovery, innovation, development, and learning in engineering and science. He is responsible for the general management of the business and the strategic direction in the Pacific region. Stéphane is also a non-executive Director for The Housing Connection, a non-for-profit organisation providing Disability Services in the Sydney North Shore area. Before joining MathWorks in 2012, Stéphane held senior leadership positions at IBM both in France and in Australia. 

Stéphane has an engineering degree in computer science from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. He also has a Masters in robotics with research at the University of Southern California. You can read more about his work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/smarouani/

Professor Lyria Bennett Moses

Professor Bennett Moses is the Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She is also co-lead of the Law and Policy theme in the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, Faculty Lead, Law and Justice in the UNSW Institute for Cyber Security and co-chair of the Australian Law Associate Dean Research Network. Her research explores issues around the relationship between technology and law, including the types of legal issues that arise as technology changes, how these issues are addressed in Australia and other jurisdictions, and the problems of treating “technology” as an object of regulation. Recently, she has been working on legal and policy issues associated with the use of artificial intelligence (including second editions of a book co-authored with Dr Michael Guihot and published by LexisNexis on Artificial Intelligence, Robots and the Law, a co-authored report on AI Decision-Making and Courts for the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration, and ongoing work on standards through Standards Australia), and the appropriate legal framework for enhancing cybersecurity. She is on the NSW Information and Privacy Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee of the Australian Chapter of the IEEE’s Society for the Social Implications of Technology, and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. You can read more about her work at https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/lyria-bennett-moses

Dr Jen Ruskin

Dr Ruskin is Academic Director for Work-integrated Learning (WIL) and Employability at Macquarie Business School. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE) and completed her PhD exploring the motives of social entrepreneurs. She is passionate about teaching, experiential learning and helping students develop agency to navigate fulfilling and purposeful careers. Her recent research projects include co-creating curriculum with students and workplace partners, evaluating student outcomes from these curricula, and developing a framework for quality WIL that accounts for factors internal and external to the institution. 

Dr Ruskin has been navigating the use of generative AI tools for the last year and a half from an academic perspective. This has meant setting parameters on how students can use AI for class work and assignments. She's also been exploring some of the ways they'll need to use AI in their future work. You can read more about her work at https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/jennifer-ruskin