Boston Globe reporter Robert Weisman spotlights how researchers at the MIT AgeLab are “designing prototypes of ‘smart homes’ for older residents, equipped with social robots, voice-activated speakers that give medication reminders, motion sensors embedded in carpets to detect falls, and intelligent doorbells that double as security cameras.”
STAT reporter Katie Palmer spotlights Principal Research Scientist Leo Anthony Celi’s research underscoring the importance of improving the diversity of datasets used to design and test clinical AI systems. “The biggest concern now is that the algorithms that we’re building are only going to benefit the population that’s contributing to the dataset,” says Celi. “And none of that will have any value to those who carry the biggest burden of disease in this country, or in the world.”
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Nidhi Subbaraman about the dramatic drops in costs to manufacture and sell renewable technologies. Subbaraman notes that Trancik’s research shows that “the steep drop in solar and lithium-ion battery technology was enabled by market expansion policies as well as investment in research and development by governments and the private sector.”
The MIT AI Hardware Program seeks to bring together researchers from academia and industry to “examine each step of designing and manufacturing the hardware behind AI-powered technologies,” reports Emily Bamforth for EdScoop. “This program is about accelerating the development of new hardware to implement AI algorithms so we can do justice to the capabilities that computer scientists are developing,” explains Prof. Jesús del Alamo.
The MIT AI Hardware Program is aimed at bringing together academia and industry to develop energy-optimized machine-learning and quantum-computing systems, reports Katyanna Quach for The Register. “As progress in algorithms and data sets continues at a brisk pace, hardware must keep up or the promise of AI will not be realized,” explains Professor Jesús del Alamo. “That is why it is critically important that research takes place on AI hardware."
TechCrunch reporters Christine Hall, Anita Ramaswamy, Connie Loizos and Mary Ann Azevedo spotlight Sribuu, an AI-powered personal financial advisor in Indonesia, co-founded by Nadia Amalia ’20. The company is aimed at helping “users make better money decisions with our wealth management tools and give personalized saving advice based on their financial habits,” they write.
Prof. Ekene Ijeoma speaks with KUER’s Ivana Martinez about his group’s art project, “A Counting,” which spotlights people counting to 100 in their native languages. “I think [this is] speaking to ideas of what it means to live in this diverse society,” said Ijeoma. “And whether or not we're able to live up to the dream of this society, which is — we're a multicultural place. Can we actually be that?”
Using machine learning techniques, MIT researchers analyzed social media sentiment around the world during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and found that the “pandemic precipitated a dramatic drop in happiness,” reports Charlotte Hu for Popular Science. “We wanted to do this global study to compare different countries because they were hit by the pandemic at different times,” explains Prof. Siqi Zheng, “and they have different cultures, different political systems, and different healthcare systems.”
Fortune reporter Jeremy Kahn spotlights a study co-authored by Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi exploring issues associated with “explainable” AI systems that are being applied in fields such as healthcare, finance and government. The researchers explain that those using such systems “might have misunderstood the capabilities of contemporary explainability techniques—they can produce broad descriptions of how the AI system works in a general sense but, for individual decisions, the explanations are unreliable or, in some instances, only offer superficial levels of explanation.”
Prof. Stuart Madnick writes for The Wall Street Journal about how flaws in a company’s cybersecurity defenses can lead to cyberattacks. “Every decision regarding cybersecurity must weigh the benefits of not doing something (cost savings or the faster growth) against the increased risk to the organization,” writes Madnick.
Gizmodo reporter Andrew Liszewski writes that CSAIL researchers developed a new AI system to teach the MIT mini cheetah how to adapt its gait, allowing it to learn to run. Using AI and simulations, “in just three hours’ time, the robot experienced 100 days worth of virtual adventures over a diverse variety of terrains,” writes Liszewski, “and learned countless new techniques for modifying its gait so that it can still effectively loco-mote from point A to point B no matter what might be underfoot.”
Graduate student Matt Groh speaks with Scientific American reporter Sarah Vitak about his team’s work studying whether human detection or artificial intelligence is better at identifying deepfakes and misinformation online. “One of the things that we would suggest for the future development of these systems is trying to figure out ways to explain why the AI is making a decision,” says Groh.
Prof. Emeritus Leo Marx, “a cultural historian whose landmark book exploring the pervasive intrusion of technology on nature helped define the field of American studies,” has died at age 102, reports John Motyka for The New York Times. Motyka writes that Marx was a “pioneer in an eclectic and still evolving quest to determine an American national identity.”
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater spotlights MIT startup Strio.AI, which is aimed at bringing autonomous picking and pruning to strawberry crops.
Prof. Stuart Madnick speaks with Radio Boston host Tiziana Dearing about the increase of SMS phishing, a texting scam through messaging services. “People tend to fall for these things if they are in an emotional state and SMS messages often are a higher emotional phenomenon than email messages,” says Madnick.