Episode 47: Academia and Industry: love match or marriage from hell? With Prof Shai Shen-Orr of Technion
The Medical AI PodcastShow Notes
One of the landmarks in AI was the work on neural networks in the 1970s by Geoffrey Hinton, the "Godfather of AI". This work took place at the University of Edinburgh. This laid much of the groundwork for the plethora of modern AI-based applications so academia and the corporate sector are two very different but essential types of crucible for AI research what is a relationship between them? Is it a loving partnership? Or is it more like a Hollywood marriage with crockery regularly being thrown against the wall? With to explore this important but under-discussed area is Prof Shai Shen-Orr, Associate Prof. at Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.
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Scary fact: fertility rates across the West have plummeted to alarmingly low levels, marking a significant demographic shift. Most Western countries now have a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) well below the 'replacement level' of approximately 2.1 children per woman—the rate needed to maintain a population size without migration. For instance, the European Union's TFR hit a historical low of just 1.38 live births per woman in 2023, with countries like Spain and Italy seeing rates as low as 1.12 and 1.2 respectively. This downward trend is a major societal change, driven by the rising cost of living, delayed parenthood, and economic uncertainty. The long-term impact of these plummeting rates presents profound challenges for Western societies. The most immediate concern is a rapidly ageing population and a resulting shrinking workforce. This demographic imbalance places immense strain on public finances, as fewer working-age people are left to fund the increasing costs of pensions and healthcare for a growing number of elderly citizens. A smaller, older population can also lead to slower economic growth due to labour shortages, forcing Western nations to fundamentally reorganise their societies and policy approaches.