Avast Speaking at SXSW: Ethics and Responsibility in the Age of ArtificiaI Intelligence

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Avast (AVST:LSE), the global leader in consumer cybersecurity products, will be taking to the stage at SXSW 2019 to tackle the issue of ethics, responsibility and the right to privacy in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Speaking on March 9 in a session titled, "Ethics and Responsibility in the AI and IoT Age", chess grandmaster and Avast Security Ambassador Garry Kasparov, and Ondrej Vlcek, Avast President, Consumer, will be debating the ethical implications to individual privacy of today's digital living. The same day, Garry Kasparov will participate in an exhibition chess match at the #TwitterHouse where he will play chess against ten people simultaneously.

It's no longer a futuristic concept to have smart, connected devices in the home; yet the security of these products has often been viewed as an afterthought. In their joint session, Garry and Ondrej will address the evolution of AI (and the fears associated with it); the current state of smart home security -  and debate just how in today's reality, people's privacy can be protected.

Speaking at the session will be:

Garry Kasparov, Avast Security Ambassador: Chess legend and former world champion Garry Kasparov has been engaged with human-machine interaction, and a human rights and privacy activist, since his legendary chess matches against IBM Deep Blue in the 1990s.

Ondrej Vlcek, Avast President, Consumer: An early advocate for the use of AI as a form of defense against security threats, Ondrej is responsible for creating Avast's next-gen, AI-driven security solutions.

Vladislav Iliushin, Avast Security Researcher: Kasparov and Vlcek will also be joined by Security Researcher Vladislav Iliushin, who will demonstrate how easily a hacker can enter a smart home, and what actual threats in today's IoT environment can look like.

Avast will also be present with a stand at the SXSW trade show, Hall 2, Section 5, Stand no. 1422, where the company will address privacy protection, and at the SXSW Game Expo, Hall 1, Section 3, Stand no. 2231, where Avast will present its HMA! VPN solution.

Media:
Please contact us if you are interested in an interview with Garry Kasparov and Ondrej Vlcek: [email protected]

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 latest book is called "Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins". 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.

About Ondrej Vlcek
Ondrej Vlcek serves as Avast's President for the Consumer business, leading Avast's largest business. Through his strategies and vision, Mr. Vlcek has architected Avast's cloud based security network for the newly announced IoT security solutions and has led his team to dramatic growth by re-inventing how Avast protects people online. 

In his prior role at Avast as EVP & General Manager, Consumer & CTO, Mr. Vlcek pioneered Avast's transformation from a traditional PC antivirus vendor into the leading next- gen provider of security solutions it is today. 

In 2003, Mr. Vlcek became a chief developer at Avast and led the team that developed one of the first antivirus program for Windows. 

Mr. Vlcek holds an MS in Mathematics from Czech Technical University in Prague.

About Vladislav Iliushin
Vladislav Iliushin is IoT Threat Researcher at Avast. He has been working on IoT ecosystem analysis and experiments, including public Wi-Fi security, research around the accessibility and hackability of web cams, and demo hacks of IoT home appliances.

About Avast
Avast (AVST:LSE) (www.avast.com), the global leader in digital security products, protects over 400 million people online. Avast offers products under the Avast and AVG brands that protect people from threats on the internet and the evolving IoT threat landscape. The company's threat detection network is among the most advanced in the world, using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to detect and stop threats in real time. Avast digital security products for Mobile, PC or Mac are top-ranked and certified by VB100, AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, OPSWAT, West Coast Labs and others.

SOURCE Avast

Related Links

www.avast.com