Using AI to turn data into discoveries

Talk Abstract

New telescopes are generating more data than astronomers could examine in a thousand lifetimes. The Vera Rubin Observatory will soon image the entire southern sky every few nights, flagging millions of changes that might be new supernovae, asteroids, or phenomena never seen before. The Euclid Space Telescope is imaging over a billion galaxies, including those displaying gravitational lensing and tidal streams, where larger galaxies have ripped apart smaller ones. AI has become an essential tool for keeping up with the incoming data, and we'll look at how it is used to reveal these "needles in the haystack". We'll also discuss where AI falls short, and why astronomers still need to be in the loop. If you've ever wondered whether AI is genuinely useful or pure hype, you'll leave with a clear answer.