Common sense reasoning
Firth-Butterfield who is now Chief Officer of the EAP after having envisioned it with Lucid's CEO, explained the purpose and the organizational structure of the Panel at the monthly public seminar of CSER.

Before going into the EAP, Firth-Butterfield first gave a description of the machine that it is all about: "Cyc reasons across a structured knowledge base", explained Firth-Butterfield. "It uses that information and its causal inferences across any data not only to tell the 'what' but also the 'how'. And why it is the right answer. After it has done that it will provide us with a logic chain to show us why it places this answer at number 1. This enables us to check how it's thinking." (See below for Lucid's explainer video of Cyc.)

Cyc can be used to answer complex questions that involve scanning tons of data. Lucid currently collaborates with a medical center in Cleveland to help find the right patients for clinical trials. When it offers up its outcome it can also show why it chose those particular patients.

Ethics Advisory Panel
To help Lucid use its powerful machine for good, the EAP has 2 functions: an internal and an external one, Firth-Butterfield explained. The panel will consist of a group of around 12 experts including AI researchers, ethicists, legal folk and policymakers. It will also include representatives for special interest groups that will be affected by AI such as children. With 5 active members the Panel isn't at full force yet, but over time it will become more populated, said Firth-Butterfield.