Press Releases

Prague, Czech Republic / Berlin, Germany, August 16, 2018 – Garry Kasparov, Chess Grandmaster & Avast Security Ambassador, and Ondrej Vlcek, Avast EVP & CTO, will address the future of the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and how people’s privacy can be protected in a digital world at the IFA+ Summit in Berlin, which will take place from September 2-3, 2018. On September 2, Garry Kasparov will open the “Intelligence” cluster with a speech on “Timeless Values in the Digital World”, and will later, together with Ondrej Vlcek, discuss AI, privacy, and security on a panel. Together with Garry Kasparov, Avast will also present a live smart home hack in a workshop on the same day, and will demo a smart home attack at its exhibition space at IFA+ Summit. In the evening of September 2, Garry Kasparov will have an exhibition match and play chess against eight delegates simultaneously.

Since his legendary chess matches against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer in the late 1990s, Garry Kasparov has been deeply engaged with AI, human-machine interaction, and human rights issues. At this year’s IFA+ Summit, Garry Kasparov will share his views on the challenges arising from the proliferation of AI, and what can be done by users, regulators, and the industry to assure that ethical standards and privacy protections are a part of AI technology, in his speech “Timeless Values in the Digital World - Where AI Decisions Meet Human Responsibility”.

At Avast’s IFA+ Summit workshop, attendees can experience a smart home hack, first hand. Avast security researcher, Vladislav Iliushin, will show different ways an attacker can hack their way into a smart home. The hack will be commentated by Garry Kasparov, and Ondrej Vlcek will address the state of IoT security today, as well as showcase how to keep smart home environments secure using new technologies, including AI.

Avast’s schedule at IFA+ Summit:

Sunday, September 2, 2018:

11:05-11:30 am:           
Garry Kasparov: Timeless Values in the Digital World –
Where AI Decisions Meet Human Responsibility
Opening speech Garry Kasparov (Cluster "Intelligence 2024")

12:30-1:00 pm:             
Fears of Redundancy – The Relationship Between Biological and Non-Biological Intelligence
Panel discussion: Garry Kasparov, Ondrej Vlcek, Prof. Robin D. Hanson, Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University, and Prof. Elisabeth André, Chair of Human-Centered Multimedia, Faculty of Applied Informatics, Augsburg University

2:00-3:00pm:              
Home Sweet Home?
Chronicle of a Smart Home Attack Foretold with Garry Kasparov
Workshop including live-demo of a smart home hack, and a Q&A with Garry Kasparov and Ondrej Vlcek will discuss smart home

7:00-8:00pm:               
Chess match             
Simultaneous chess match of Garry Kasparov against sixteen delegates (2x8 delegates)

Media:

Members of the press are welcome to attend the workshop, which will include a Q&A. The workshop will take place on Sunday, September 2, 2018 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm; the location will be announced later this month. Garry Kasparov and Ondrej Vlcek will both be available to discuss AI, privacy and the future of IoT. If you are interested in attending the workshop, please contact pr@avast.com.

Speech details:
September 2, 2018, 11:00am (Intelligence Cluster)

Timeless Values in the Digital World – Where AI Decisions Meet Human Responsibility

Since Garry Kasparov’s legendary chess matches against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer in 1996 and 1997, Kasparov has been deeply engaged with artificial intelligence, human-machine interaction, and human rights issues.

With the rise of intelligent technologies, questions of ethics and responsibility in online privacy gain a new level of complexity. New life circumstances are a part of the discussion because of AI, but that cannot mean we abandon the rights and values we treasure. Nor can it mean escaping responsibility for the outcomes. Who is accountable for damage caused by a bug in code that is written by an AI? As smart home speakers, thermostats, and TVs enter our homes, what data should they be allowed to collect, how can that data be used, and who sets those limits? Are these questions we can address in general, or only case by case? As Kasparov argues, we don’t want to constrain the innovation of these incredible new tools, but when we consistently choose convenience and new features over privacy and security, perhaps we are asking the wrong questions.

At the IFA+ Summit, Kasparov will share his views on the challenges arising from the proliferation of AI, and what can be done by users, regulators, and industry to assure that ethical standards and privacy protections are a part of this exciting technology.

Workshop details:
September 2, 2018, 2:00pm

Home Sweet Home? Chronicle of a Smart Home Attack Foretold with Garry Kasparov
 

Smart homes are being hacked, and will continue to be a target in the future. A smart home is only as secure as its weakest link, and at Avast’s IFA+ Summit workshop attendees can experience this first hand. Watch as protagonist, Garry Kasparov, who has a long history of trouble with machines, is hacked by Avast security researcher, Vladislav Iliushin, and narrates how an attacker invades his smart home through a vulnerable security camera, sparking a chain of smart device hacks. Garry Kasparov will comment on this absurd, but realistic scenario, and draw comparisons to his famous chess matches against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue, where his battle against a machine was actually against the humans behind it. He will be accompanied by Ondrej Vlcek, who will address the state of IoT security today, and showcase how to keep smart home environments secure using new technologies, including AI. The workshop will include a Q&A on the topic with both speakers.

About Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Soviet Union in 1963. He became the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985 and was the world’s top-rated player for 20 years, until he retired in 2005. His matches against arch-rival Anatoly Karpov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue popularized chess and machine intelligence in unprecedented ways. Kasparov became a pro-democracy leader in Russia and an outspoken defender of individual freedom around the world, a mission he continues as the chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford-Martin School, where his lectures focus on human-machine collaboration. Kasparov is a provocative speaker who appears frequently before business, academic, and political audiences to speak about decision-making, strategy, technology, and artificial intelligence. His influential writings on politics, cognition, and tech have appeared in dozens of major publications around the world. He has written two acclaimed series of chess books and the bestsellers How Life Imitates Chess on decision-making and Winter Is Coming on Russia and Vladimir Putin. His new book, Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins comes out in May 2017. In 2016, he was named a Security Ambassador by Avast Software, where he discusses cybersecurity and the digital future. He lives in New York City with his wife Dasha and their two children.