SBU's artificial intelligence director is the real deal - Innovate Long Island

A Fulbright Scholar and distinguished professor in the Department of Computer Science will head up Stony Brook University's new Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation. Steven Skiena, a computational biologist (among other talents) in his 30th year as a member of the SBU faculty, will direct the artificial intelligence-focused program, part of the university's College of Engineering and Applied Science. The institute will be the center point for myriad Stony Brook-based AI research efforts focused on the notion that artificial intelligence "should amplify human intelligence instead of replacing it," under an "overarching vision" the university calls "Human-Machine Symbiosis." "By leveraging their respective strengths to compensate each other's weaknesses, the human-machine partnership becomes mutually beneficial and far more potent at problem-solving than what either can do in isolation," the university said in a statement. What sounds like a "Star Trek" villain's monologued plot reveal is not nearly so ominous, notes Fotis Sotiropoulos, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who believes "intelligent machines" can greatly benefit human engineers, for instance.