Andreas Braun is the Director Artificial Intelligence & Data Science at PwC Luxembourg. He is passionate about technologies that have the human factor at the forefront. Biometrics, in particular in its usage of Machine Learning and AI methods is his area of expertise. We caught up with him to find out how his role has developed, and why AI is at the forefront of the most innovative fintech solutions. I am the AI lead at PwC Luxembourg, which gives me the great opportunity to have an impact on all the different sectors that are touched by AI – which pretty much means all of them.

Do you have any favorite internal affirmations or mantras you like to offer students to help them feel confident in the face of potential bullies or put-downs? I'm trying to help out my elementary schooler. Right now I'm thinking of sayings along the lines of "I am awesome just as I am," or "I will not let others define me." Additionally, if there are any great all-purpose verbal comebacks or responses that might be applied generally, those would be helpful and welcome as well. Really, I welcome any suggestions you have for helping my child muster up confidence (with kindness). I speak to my students about this all the time.

The most surprising conspiracy I heard about during quarantine – the false belief that rubbing cow poop on yourself will ward off Covid – got me wondering about what technology is available to better understand misinformation, so I interviewed Ezinne Nwankwo. Nwankwo is a Ph.D. Candidate in computer science at University of California, Berkeley. She is currently working on a project that uses AI to address the spread of online misinformation about Covid-19. We talked to Nwankwo about her work, educational journey, and how she learned more about AI. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

According to Doctor Nando de Freitas, a lead researcher at Google's DeepMind, humanity is apparently on the verge of solving artificial general intelligence (AGI) within our lifetimes. In response to an opinion piece penned by yours truly, the scientist posted a thread on Twitter that began with what's perhaps the boldest statement we've seen from anyone at DeepMind concerning its current progress toward AGI: It's about making these models bigger, safer, compute efficient, faster at sampling, smarter memory, more modalities, INNOVATIVE DATA, on/offline, … 1/N https://t.co/UJxSLZGc71 It's about making these models bigger, safer, compute efficient, faster at sampling, smarter memory, more modalities, INNOVATIVE DATA, on/offline, … 1/N Solving these scaling challenges is what will deliver AGI. Research focused on these problems, eg S4 for greater memory, is needed. Rich Sutton is right too, but the AI lesson ain't bitter but rather sweet.

By raising awareness about the different pathways into AI and making it more accessible, we want to inspire participation from historically underrepresented groups so that together we can build a more equitable and ethical tech future. AI Ethics and Policy Researcher, Favour Borokini takes us through her career journey and shares what inspired her to join this space and how she landed her current role at Pollicy. She also talks about some of the most common barriers and challenges she tackles on a daily basis and how she deals with them as someone who comes from a non-technical background. She also shares her thoughts on diversity and the most practical tips to get started in this space especially if you're someone who comes from a non-technical background. You can listen to the podcast or read through their conversation below.

I've recently published an article explaining why the field of artificial intelligence could greatly benefit from the approaches of design fields. I believe that involving different stakeholders early on in AI-based projects is the most effective technique to battle the various kinds of biases and shortcomings embedded within AI systems. By starting at the very beginning, involved stakeholders and their insights can help shed light on inequitable processes of design, on systemic biases buried in data-sets and how they can disadvantage different groups of people, on use-cases and experiences that might otherwise be overlooked, and on potential consequences and implications that even the most rigorous testing might not capture. Instead of creating overly-specific, bespoke solutions tailored to a specific project, or trying to focus on completely eradicating one of those problems, my approach is to bring the voices that matter into the design process and let them help the expert team navigate all these challenges. By providing a more generalized toolkit and methodology for supporting these stakeholders, different problems in different projects and during different phases can all be addressed in whatever way is needed.

Welcome to our May 2022 monthly digest, where you can catch up with any AIhub stories you may have missed, get the low-down on recent events, and much more. This month, we chat to our latest new voice in AI, interview an award winner, hear about the RoboCup virtual humanoid competition, and check out a music video created with the help of AI. In our latest episode of New voices in AI, we caught up with Nicolo' Brandizzi who told us about his work on human-AI collaboration. You can find all episodes in the series here. We're pleased to announce that we will be giving a tutorial on Science communication for AI researchers at IJCAI-ECAI 2022.

This is the first episode in our series Smarter health. American health care is complex. In the first episode in our series Smarter health, we explore the potential of AI in health care -- from predicting patient risk, to diagnostics, to just helping physicians make better decisions. Today, On Point: We consider whether AI's potential can be realized in our financially-motivated health care system. Welcome to an On Point special series: Smarter health: Artificial intelligence and the future of American health care. In the not so distant future, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies could transform the health care you receive, whether you're aware of it or not. Here are just a couple of examples. Dr. Vindell Washington is chief clinical officer at Verily Life Sciences, which is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet. Washington oversees the development of Onduo. Technology that weaves together multiple streams of complex, daily medical data in order to guide and personalize health care decisions across entire patient populations. VINDELL WASHINGTON [Tape]: You might have a blood pressure cuff reading, you may have a blood sugar reading, you may have some logging that you've done.

Speaking to TechGraph, KaramVeer Dhillion, Co-Founder & CEO of Perpetuity Capital said, "By implementing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, NBFCs can profitably serve a vast unbanked population and help them attain financial inclusion." Could you help give a sense of how far Perpetuity Capital has come since its existence? KaramVeer Dhillon: Perpetuity Capital was started with a clear vision to become a one-stop solution for asset financing to the underserved sector of the economy. Given our proximity to the logistics industry, we saw firsthand the liquidity needs of single-owner drivers and small fleet owners. Even after clearing all costs & EMIs, an owner needs a minimum of Rs. 2 to 2.5 lakhs of liquidity a year to maintain a commercial vehicle.

Prof. Ahmed Banafa has extensive experience in research, operations and management, with a focus on IoT, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and AI. His researches cited in studies by international organizations like NATO, WTO, and APEC. He is a reviewer and a technical contributor for the publication of several technical books. He served as an instructor at well-known universities and colleges, including Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley; California State University-East Bay; San Jose State University; and University of Massachusetts. He is the recipient of several awards, including Distinguished Tenured Staff Award, Instructor of the year for 4 years in a row, and Certificate of Honor from the City and County of San Francisco.