McWhirter Conference

The McWhirter Conference | 2021

Conference topic | ‘Will AI (Artificial Intelligence) make us happier?’

During the school holidays, from Wednesday 30 June until Friday 2 July, myself and another Year 11 Frankston High School student attended the McWhirter Conference, asking the question “Will AI make us happier?”

Throughout the first two days of the conference, we logged into a zoom conference from 9.00am-4.00pm each day.  All 80 students who attended the conference were from different schools across Melbourne.  Participants were split into eight syndicate groups with around eight members in each group.  We heard from five speakers throughout the conference, these being Professor Svetha Venkatesh, Oliver Brown, Dr Colin Hales, Dr Denis Bauer and Izzy Huntington.  Each talked about different aspects of how their profession links to the topic of AI.

After the two days of zoom conferences we were all rewarded by an in-person day at Ormond College in Melbourne, were we all got to meet in person, spending the morning playing games and getting to know each other.  After lunch we all participated in an AI challenge, where we had to create an App (mobile application) or piece of technology that corresponds with the foundations values, these being;

• the principles and practice of good citizenship
• the importance of personal initiative and leadership
• the value of moral and physical courage
• the balance between individual responsibility and
• the role of the state of a person’s role in society.

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience as it has allowed me to expand my knowledge on the topic of AI, and also allowed me to meet many new people with similar interests.  I would recommend the McWhirter Conference to anyone who is interested in AI. 

Hayley Semetas

Year 11