Lauren Rhue researches the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. But she wants everyone in it to slow down. Rhue, an assistant professor of information systems at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, recently audited emotion recognition technology within three facial recognition services: Amazon Rekognition, Face and Microsoft. Her research revealed what Rhue called "really stark" racial disparities. Amazon Rekognition is offered for use to other companies.

The Samsung AI Forum annual event on Tuesday brought together global experts in the AI industry and the academe to discuss and announce the latest AI developments, research, technologies, and ongoing projects. The fourth AI Forum took place on November 2-3, where Samsung Research hosted the second day. Samsung Research is the advanced research and development for future technologies for Samsung Electronics' SET business. Dr. Sebastian Seung, Samsung Research's President, gave the opening remarks focusing on the theme, Human-Centered AI. He stated that the theme coincides with Samsung's vision of producing services and products that would enrich human life.

Jessica Hodgins is a professor of computer science and robotics in the School of Computer Science and also directs the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research laboratory in Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on computer graphics, animation and robotics with an emphasis on generating and analyzing human motion. She is the former vice president for research at Disney Research. Hodkins received her Ph.D. in computer science at CMU in 1989 and served as an associate professor and assistant dean in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining the CMU faculty in 2000. She served as associate director of faculty in the Robotics Institute from 2005 to 2015.

Science needs to understand and predict how climate change--and the growing onslaught of hurricanes, fires, and floods it's bringing--affects tropical forests. Will the forests respond to the assault with shorter trees? Will they store less carbon, or support less tree and plant diversity and fewer wildlife species? To better understand the effects a changing climate will have on tropical forests, Maria Uriarte, Columbia University professor of ecology, evolution, and environmental biology, needs to analyze images of forests. These bird's-eye view images are the size of a postage stamp.

Science needs to understand and predict how climate change--and the growing onslaught of hurricanes, fires, and floods it's bringing--affects tropical forests. Will the forests respond to the assault with shorter trees? Will they store less carbon, or support less tree and plant diversity and fewer wildlife species? To better understand the effects a changing climate will have on tropical forests, Maria Uriarte, Columbia University professor of ecology, evolution, and environmental biology, needs to analyze images of forests. These bird's-eye view images are the size of a postage stamp.

For many years, the main goal of companies is to collect as much user data as possible. Dealing with all these and new incoming data quickly and effectively is impossible without intelligent systems. This is why companies desperately need to harness AI technologies to come to the top place among competitors – and the sooner the better. However, the challenge is that modern AI systems are "idiot savants" as Gurdeep Singh Pall of Microsoft put it in one of his talks. "They are great at what they do, but if you don't use them correctly, it's a disaster."

Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science (SCS) has launched a new initiative, CMU AI, that marshals the school's work in artificial intelligence (AI) across departments and disciplines, creating one of the largest and most experienced AI research groups in the world. "For AI to reach greater levels of sophistication, experts in each aspect of AI, such as how computers understand the way people talk or how computers can learn and improve with experience, will increasingly need to work in close collaboration," said SCS Dean Andrew Moore. "CMU AI provides a framework for our ongoing AI research and education." From self-driving cars to smart homes, AI is poised to change the way people live, work and learn. "AI is no longer something that a lone genius invents in the garage," Moore added.

Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science (SCS) has launched a new initiative, CMU AI, that marshals the school's work in artificial intelligence (AI) across departments and disciplines, creating one of the largest and most experienced AI research groups in the world. "For AI to reach greater levels of sophistication, experts in each aspect of AI, such as how computers understand the way people talk or how computers can learn and improve with experience, will increasingly need to work in close collaboration," said SCS Dean Andrew Moore. "CMU AI provides a framework for our ongoing AI research and education." From self-driving cars to smart homes, AI is poised to change the way people live, work and learn, Moore said. "AI is no longer something that a lone genius invents in the garage," Moore added.

Beware of relying uncritically on big data computer systems, warns a St. Mary's University professor undertaking a five-year research project dubbed Where Science Meets Fiction: Social Robots and the Ethical Imagination. "There are real dangers now with big data," said Dr. Teresa Heffernan, the St. Mary's University professor undertaking the research project. "Algorithms have the same biases as humans." With her research project, the professor is hoping to demystify the technology that creates artificial intelligence and bring together experts from all walks of life to begin a dialogue about how humans and these machines should interact -- what to do and what not to do. "I want to shift the conversation that has been shaped by Silicon Valley . . . to make it more open and question the rhetoric, to demystify the technology and expose how the technology works rather than be dominated by it," said Heffernan.

CMU sophomore Ian Asenjo wins Critical Language Scholarship from State Dept. This week, Ian Asenjo, a sophomore global studies major with an additional major in ethics, history, and public policy, was awarded the Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. State Department, which will give him the opportunity to spend his summer in Chandigarh, India studying Punjabi. This cultural and linguistic immersion program is intended to encourage students to study languages that are drastically different from English. Many American language learners do not choose to master these languages due to the drastic differences, and we do not have enough native speakers. With supply low, demand is high for speakers of these critical languages, such as Arabic, Swahili, Urdu, Turkish, and Punjabi.