Thousands of A.I. enthusiasts are converging in San Francisco this week for what’s billed as the “world’s largest A.I. event,” which stands in sharp contrast to what’s happening in Washington.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
About 50,000 AI enthusiasts descended on San Francisco this week. They talked about AI for business, AI for retail, AI for everything. The extravaganza included everything from game shows to the biggest names in the industry. NPR tech correspondent Dara Kerr was there.
DARA KERR, BYLINE: Downtown San Francisco was transformed. The streets were cleared and laid with bright green Astroturf. Tall, leafy trees were brought in, and even a fake waterfall was assembled. There’s pop-up cafes, lounge areas, music. But the real scene-stealer – artificial intelligence.
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MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY: Welcome to the biggest AI event of the year. Welcome to Dreamforce.
KERR: Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey opened Dreamforce, which is hosted by the software company Salesforce. It’s an annual promo event that’s normally like a company trade show. But this year it’s all about AI, the technology that’s exploding in popularity and anyone with a smartphone can play with. Now it seems AI is working its way into every facet of our lives.
CHARVI GAUR: I flew all the way from Brisbane to attend this.
KERR: That’s Charvi Gaur, who’s a business analyst at Queensland University of Technology. She’s interested in how AI is trained.
GAUR: The way they collect data and how they are breaking the data boundaries – it’s pretty exciting to learn about that.
KERR: AI enthusiasm is everywhere here. Signs say things like, peace, love and AI. In the conference hall, there’s kale salads, mochi doughnuts and an emcee inviting people to play around with Salesforce’s AI tool, Einstein.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I don’t know if you guys know, but this space is all about Einstein. And we have a really…
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