A Moate PhD researcher has said taking centre stage on a prestigious TEDx talk stage felt “both humbling and exhilarating” and was one of the proudest moments of her career.
Louise McCormack took centre stage at a TEDx Galway event on Thursday, 14 November, to deliver an inspiring talk on the ethical standards of artificial intelligence. The event featured a lineup of distinguished speakers, including Olympic medalist, Aifric Keogh, and Tiktok’s Head of Global Research, Rachael Ryan.
Her TEDx talk finished a busy week for Louise, who also competed in the national finals of the Three Minute Thesis on Wednesday, 13 November, having qualified from a University of Galway regional final in July.
Along with her busy academic schedule, the Moate native is the co-founder and CEO of Lexe, a news start-up aiming to form ethical AI-enabled link between journalists and news consumers.
HIGH PROFILE
TED/TEDx talks are high-profile recorded public-speaking presentation focusing for the most part on technology, entertainment and design. They are devoted to spreading ideas usually in the form of short, powerful talks and have been done by the likes of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Simon Sinek.
Louise’s talk focused on her pioneering work at the ADAPT Centre, University of Galway, where she is developing tools to evaluate and quantify the trustworthiness of AI systems. Her research aims to ensure that AI technologies align with ethical principles such as fairness, transparency, accountability and human oversight, especially in high-risk areas like judicial sentencing and financial services.
“I’ve been watching TED and TEDx videos since I was a teenager,” remarked Louise. “Sharing the stage with leaders in their fields was both humbling and exhilarating. It was one of the proudest moments of my career.”
For Louise, the evening was particularly special as her parents were in the audience to witness her milestone achievement. Reflecting on the moment, she shared, “Having my parents in the audience as I delivered a TEDx talk on artificial intelligence was particularly special.
“My dad gave me a book on Visual Basic in 1999, where I first learned to code. My mum taught me and my siblings, with great patience, to practice public speaking and singing, having us stand on a coffee table facing the mirror and practice in the weeks leading up to every single Moate feis, which was something we loved doing in the nineties.”
THREESIS
Louise’s TEDx talk followed an appearance at the National ‘Three Minute Thesis’, or ’Threesis’ final at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.
Three Minute Thesis supports graduate research students in their development as confident research communicators and they are challenged to present their research in just three minutes, using only one slide and speaking to a non-specialist audience.
Louise and the seven other finalists had to present their niche subjects and intensive research into bite-sized presentations that informed and entertained the general public.
Eight contestants, including Louise qualified for the final competition, which was ultimately won by Aideen McCabe from University College Cork.
