Please register at the link below: https://augusta-issa-4th-qtr-dec-25.eventbrite.com
Abstract: AI, Agency and God
Artificial Intelligence is quite amazing. It seems to have the ability to think and to reason. It can write complex problems, create music, write an essay, research topics and perform many complex tasks better than humans. But how exactly an AI understands terms and makes ass associations remains a mystery to even those that created it. Questions about free will, agency and ethics surround the topic and this talk unapologetically dives deep into that. We will first explore the training of AI models, how LLMs make associations, and how to build simple agents before asking if an agent has agency and what it would mean if it did.
About the Author:
Mark Baggett’s first foray into information security was on the receiving end of hacking, and he was amazed by the experience. “The hackers made my computer do stuff that I didn't think was possible,” he says. “It was like magic and I had to know how the trick was done.” He immediately became obsessed with understanding all the tricks, how they worked, and how to prevent them from happening again.
Fast forward to today and Mark’s infosec career spans nearly 30 years with 15 of those years spent teaching for SANS. Mark is currently a faculty fellow for SANS and an independent consultant through his company Indepth Defense providing forensics, incident response, and penetration testing services. Mark served as the technical advisor to the DoD for SANS from 2011 until 2024, where he assisted various government organizations in the development of information security capabilities. Today he is the Chief Technology Officer for the Internet Storm Center.
https://www.sans.org/profiles/mark-baggett/https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-baggett/
http://twitter.com/markbaggett
http://www.youtube.com/@markbaggett
Date: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Georgia Cyber Center, 100 Grace Hopper Lane, Augusta, GA 30901 (Nybble room)
If you are interested, please register at the link below:
https://augusta-issa-4th-qtr-dec-25.eventbrite.com
