Emerging Topics and Societal Benefit. A Partner Event of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, hosted by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Stanford University. Leading AI researchers discussed the most impactful research topics in AI today.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence:
What are the emerging topics and potential societal benefits of artificial intelligence? Steve Eglash, executive director of the Stanford AI Lab, and event co-chairs Russ Altman, professor of bioengineering, genetics, medicine and computer science, and Fei-Fei Li, associate professor of computer science, open the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence.”
Fei-Fei Li: Our smartest computers are still blind:
We have security cameras everywhere, but they still can’t alert us when a child is drowning, says Fei-Fei Li, associate professor of computer science at Stanford. While humans have used vision to make better sense of the world for millions of years, our machines and computers are still in the dark ages. At “The Future of Artificial Intelligence” partner event of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, she explains that the daunting task ahead of us is to develop artificial intelligence algorithms to allow our computers to make smarter use of content in images and videos.
Anshul Kundaje: Machine learning to decode the genome:
The future of personalized medicine is inevitably connected to the future of artificial intelligence, says Anshul Kundaje, assistant professor of genetics and of computer science at Stanford. In a talk at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence,” Kundaje explains that sequencing the human genome is only the first step. The next step is to use machine learning to decode the genome and, ultimately, improve health care for everyone.
Yoav Shoham: An index that will track the state of AI over time:
Stanford’s 100 Year Study of Artificial Intelligence is developing a set of measures to track the state of AI over time. Yoav Shoham, Stanford computer science professor emeritus, says the index aims to be well informed, fact based and unbiased, so as to be neither an apologist nor an alarmist for AI. The goal is to be a useful resource for practitioners, industry, policymakers, the media and the general public.
Stefano Ermon: Satellite images can pinpoint poverty better than surveys:
One of the biggest challenges in poverty mitigation is that we don’t have good poverty data. Stefano Ermon, assistant professor of computer science and a fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford, is developing a machine learning model that uses high-resolution satellite images to inexpensively generate accurate poverty maps for entire countries or continents. Watch his talk at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence,” to learn more.
John Duchi: How to get statistically accurate information with less data:
How much sensitive data do we need to collect to get information that could lead to better understanding of issues including the biological basis of disease, better economic policymaking, etc.? If we understand the connection between machine learning and optimization, we may not need as much data as we think. Hear John Duchi, assistant professor of statistics and of electrical engineering, discuss this at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence.”
Chris Re: What dark data is, and how bringing it to light will impact society:
The world’s scientific knowledge is accessible in a way it’s never been before. Unfortunately, much of it cannot be read or summarized efficiently, so important data remains untapped. Stanford computer scientist Chris Re is building a system that will change that. In his talk at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence,” Re asks, “Can we build machines to read for us?”
Arvind Krishna: Another revolution is coming and it’s AI:
Artificial intelligence will be more impactful than the steam engine and its benefits will raise the global standard of living if we harness it appropriately, says IBM Research senior vice president and director Arvind Krishna. In a keynote address at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence,” Krishna points out that two things are critical to achieving advances in artificial intelligence: the creation of more open data sets, and infrastructure investment.
Christopher Manning: How do we get computers to understand human language?
The knowledge that our artificial intelligence systems need is contained in human language, spread across the books and webpages of the world, explains Stanford computer scientist and linguist Christopher Manning. It’s not enough for computers to be able to access and read information, they must be able to accurately translate and interpret it. Watch Manning’s talk at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence,” to hear about his work in this area.
Megan Smith: Perspectives on artificial intelligence from the White House:
The government is using artificial intelligence in tasks ranging from planning space missions to forecasting job growth. Given the potential effects of these technologies on culture and economy, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith says the government’s larger challenge is to bring “humanity’s greatest talent” to bear on the development and direction of AI. To hear more, watch her talk at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit partner event, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence.”