Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed reports that MIT has announced a $1 billion plan to create a college of computing. The college, which will be named for Stephen Schwarzman, will also “promote teaching and research on computing and artificial intelligence.”
MIT’s new college of computing will teach students how to apply computer science and artificial intelligence in their specific field of study, writes Dave Gershgorn for Quartz. Gershgorn notes that researchers studying the impact of AI on society “have consistently suggested the expansion of interdisciplinary education, on the grounds that computer scientists can sometimes overlook the nuances of other fields.”
With the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, MIT is looking to educate the next generation of people working in the field of AI and computer science, writes James Vincent for The Verge. Vincent explains that the college is also aimed at investigating the ethics involved with the fields of computing and AI, positioning “the college as an ethically minded enterprise.”
In an article for TechCrunch, Danny Crichton calls the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing a “doubling down on the future of computer science.” Crichton writes that “the objective of the new school will be to ensure that all MIT students become familiar with the field regardless of their chosen profession.”
Boston Globe reporter Andy Rosen writes that MIT is establishing a college of computing as part of an effort to examine the impact computer science and AI is having on all disciplines. “We have to move much faster educating the next generation for the new economy,” explains President L. Rafael Reif. “The way to do that is to come up with integrated curriculum.”
Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes that MIT is establishing a college of computing to help students and researchers use computing and AI to advance their work. President L. Rafael Reif explains that the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing “will constitute both a global centre for computing research and education, and an intellectual foundry for powerful new AI tools.”
The New York Times writes about the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, calling MIT’s move “a particularly ambitious step.” President Reif says the College will “educate the bilinguals of the future,” people in fields like biology, chemistry, politics, history, and linguistics who are also skilled in the techniques of modern computing that can be applied to them.
CNBC reporter Andrew Zaleski writes that MIT researchers have developed a neuromorphic chip design that could help advance the development of computers that operate like humans. The design could “lead to processors capable of carrying out machine learning tasks with dramatically lower energy demands,” Zaleski explains.
Verge reporter James Vincent writes that MIT researchers have developed a challenge, the Minimal Turing Test, which prompts participants to select a word that can prove that they are human. “It tells you something about the gap between humans and smart robots,” explains graduate student John McCoy, “that people who have never had to think about this situation before came up with a lot of smart and funny results.”
In this Reuters video, Jim Drury highlights how MIT researchers have developed an activity simulator that could one day help teach robots how to complete household chores. The simulator, VirtualHome, could train robots to “help the elderly or disabled in their homes,” Drury explains.
MIT researchers have developed neural networks that can recognize speech patterns that are indicative of depression, writes Anna Powers for Forbes. “Because the model is generalized and does not rely on specific questions to be asked,” explains Powers, “the hope is that this model can be implemented into mobile apps that will allow people to detect depression through natural conversation.”
Forbes reporter Maribel Lopez writes about how researchers at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab are tackling a variety of AI challenges with real-world applications. Lopez notes that it’s great to see organizations like MIT and IBM coming together to “bridge the gap between science and practical AI solutions that can be used for both commercial and social good.”
Prof. John Leonard speaks with Bloomberg News about his work with the Toyota Research Institute on developing a system that combines machine learning technologies and sensors to make vehicles safer. “Imagine if you had the most vigilant and capably trained driver in the world that could take over in a situation where a teenager took a curve too fast,” says Leonard of the inspiration for the system.
Fortune reporters Aaron Pressman and Adam Lashinsky highlight graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s work aimed at eliminating bias in AI and machine learning systems. Pressman and Lashinsky note that Buolamwini believes that “who codes matters,” as more diverse teams of programmers could help prevent algorithmic bias.
MIT researchers have developed a model that can help detect depression by analyzing an individual’s speech patterns, reports Kaveh Waddell for Axios. Waddell explains that the researchers, “trained an AI system using 142 recorded conversations to assess whether a person is depressed and, if so, how severely.”