‘I don’t worry about a robot takeover’: AI expert Michael Wooldridge on big tech’s real dangers (and occasional blessings)

Key points

• Michael Wooldridge is like the teacher you wish you’d had: approachable, able to explain difficult things in simple terms, neither dauntingly highbrow nor off-puttingly cool, and genuinely enthusiastic about what he does.
• “I love it when you see the light go on in somebody, when they understand something that they didn’t understand before,” he says.
• “I find that incredibly gratifying.” He comes across a regular sort of guy, which, as an Oxford professor with more than 500 scientific articles and 10 books to his name, he clearly isn’t.
• Typically, his favourite work is his contribution to Ladybird’s Expert Books – an update of the classic children’s series – on artificial intelligence.
• “I’m very proud of this,” he says, as he hands me a copy from his bookshelf.