Ben Strauss of the Washington Post reports that during this year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference there was growing interest in applying more statistical analysis into curling strategies. There are panels here this weekend about chess and poker,” says Nate Silver, creator of the website FiveThirtyEight. “So, it’s broadening the definition of analytics and sports — and also the overall geekiness of the conference.”
Associated Press reporter Jimmy Golen writes about this year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, highlighting the growing use of analytics in sports. “Over two days, college math majors rubbed elbows with team and tech executives looking for fresh ideas and talented minds to implement them,” writes Golen.
Anne Mostue reports for Bloomberg Baystate Business on the launch event for the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Alphabet, noted that the new college will be able to achieve something that has not been possible before, namely to “aggressively diffuse this new technology into fields which need it, but can’t get it on their own.”
VentureBeat reporter Kyle Wiggers highlights a panel discussion focusing on AI and entrepreneurship held during an event for the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. “We know that entrepreneurs drive the economy,” said Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Alphabet. “What do you need to have [AI] companies? You need entrepreneurs. And let me tell you: we need more entrepreneurs.”
Bloomberg News reporter Amanda Gordon writes about the three-day event for the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. “MIT is going to be the anchor of what we will know in society as public interest technology,” said Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, during a panel discussion on considering the social impacts of AI.
Diane Greene SM ’78, a life member of the MIT Corporation, speaks with Becky Quick of CNBC about the future of AI. Greene explains that companies can now combine data with computational power, so that an “algorithm can learn from the data. Once you start doing that you start getting insights you’ve never gotten before that can leapfrog what you’re able to do.”
Xconomy reporter Jeff Engel writes about the three-day celebration held for the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Engel writes that during the event, Eric Schmidt, technical advisor for Alphabet, noted that the new college will help address the AI talent shortage. “The level of demand across everything is exploding in this field,” Schmidt explained.
Houston Rockets general manager and Sloan Sports Analytics Conference cofounder, Daryl Morey, spoke about this year’s conference, which “brings together industry professionals, team executives, students, and others to discuss the increasing role of analytics in sports,” writes Nicole Yang for The Boston Globe. “The big fun is the really, really detailed geeky stuff,” said Morey.
The Associated Press reports that MIT postdoc Nataliya Kosmyna has developed a “Thinking Cap” that analyzes brain activity to sort wearers into a Hogwarts house. The cap, which uses noninvasive electrodes, will eventually be used to help students build self-esteem.
MIT postdoc Nataliya Kosmyna demonstrated a device dubbed the “Thinking Cap” at the MIT Computing Expo, part of the Institute’s celebration of the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. Kosmyna explains that the “Thinking Cap” aims to help students build self-esteem and improve their academic performance, writes Steve Annear of The Boston Globe.
Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe writes about the celebration of the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, which featured a demonstration of the Mini Cheetah robot. Learning how machines can simulate the behavior of living organisms like the cheetah “is just the kind of problem the new College of Computing is intended to solve,” writes Bray.
In an article for Fast Company about hackathons, Dan Formosa highlights how the Make the Breast Pump Not Suck Hackathon held at MIT was an inclusive event focused on addressing issues of bias, inequality and accessibility, noting how the organizers “went to extremes to assure diversity.”
Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner highlights the RealityVirtually event that took place at MIT, bringing together nearly 450 people from 35 countries around the world to create new software for virtual and augmented reality headsets. Kirsner writes that the event “offered an incredible glimpse into the nascent medium’s potential and possibilities.”
New York Times reporter Steve Lohr writes about the MIT AI Policy Conference, which examined how society, industry and governments should manage the policy questions surrounding the evolution of AI technologies. “If you want people to trust this stuff, government has to play a role,” says CSAIL principal research scientist Daniel Weitzner.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Boston native, will address graduates during MIT’s 2019 Commencement exercises, reports NECN.