Fairness in Machine Learning with Hanna Wallach - TWiML Talk #232
Today we’re joined by Hanna Wallach, a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research. Hanna and I really dig into how bias and a lack of interpretability and transparency show up across ML. We discuss the role that human biases, even those that are inadvertent, play in tainting data, and whether deployment of “fair” ML models can actually be achieved in practice, and much more. Hanna points us to a TON of resources to further explore the topic of fairness in ML, which you’ll find at twimlai.com/talk
18 Feb 201948min
AI for Healthcare with Peter Lee - TWiML Talk #231
In this episode, we’re joined by Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Research responsible for the company’s healthcare initiatives. Peter and I met back at Microsoft Ignite, where he gave me some really interesting takes on AI development in China, which is linked in the show notes. This conversation centers around impact areas Peter sees for AI in healthcare, namely diagnostics and therapeutics, tools, and the future of precision medicine.
18 Feb 201956min
An Optimized Recurrent Unit for Ultra-Low Power Acoustic Event Detection with Justice Amoh Jr. - TWiML Talk #230
Today, we're joined by Justice Amoh Jr., a Ph.D. student at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. Justice presented his work on “An Optimized Recurrent Unit for Ultra-Low Power Acoustic Event Detection.” In our conversation, we discuss his goal of bringing low cost, high-efficiency wearables to market for monitoring asthma. We explore the challenges of using classical machine learning models on microcontrollers, and how he went about developing models optimized for constrained hardware environm
11 Feb 201945min
Pathologies of Neural Models and Interpretability with Alvin Grissom II - TWiML Talk #229
Today, we continue our Black in AI series with Alvin Grissom II, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Ursinus College. In our conversation, we dive into the paper he presented at the workshop, “Pathologies of Neural Models Make Interpretations Difficult.” We talk through some of the “pathological behaviors” he identified in the paper, how we can better understand the overconfidence of trained deep learning models in certain settings, and how we can improve model training with entropy regulariz
11 Feb 201932min
AI for Earth with Lucas Joppa - TWiML Talk #228
Today we’re joined by Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft and Zach Parisa, Co-founder and president of Silvia Terra, a Microsoft AI for Earth grantee. In our conversation, we explore the ways that ML & AI can be used to advance our understanding of forests and other ecosystems, supporting conservation efforts. We discuss how Silvia Terra uses computer vision and data from a wide array of sensors, combined with AI, to yield more detailed estimates of the various species in our forests.
8 Feb 201956min
AI for Accessibility with Wendy Chisholm - TWiML Talk #227
Today we’re joined by Wendy Chisholm, a principal accessibility architect at Microsoft, and one of the chief proponents of the AI for Accessibility program, which extends grants to AI-powered accessibility projects the areas of Employment, Daily Life, and Communication & Connection. In our conversation, we discuss the intersection of AI and accessibility, the lasting impact that innovation in AI can have for people with disabilities and society as a whole, and the importance of projects in this area.
6 Feb 201950min
AI for Humanitarian Action with Justin Spelhaug - TWiML Talk #226
Today we're joined by Justin Spelhaug, General Manager of Technology for Social Impact at Microsoft. In our conversation, we discuss the company’s efforts in AI for Humanitarian Action, covering Microsoft’s overall approach to technology for social impact, how his group helps mission-driven organizations best leverage technologies like AI, and how AI is being used at places like the World Bank, Operation Smile, and Mission Measurement to create greater impact.
4 Feb 201958min
Teaching AI to Preschoolers with Randi Williams - TWiML Talk #225
Today, in the first episode of our Black in AI series, we’re joined by Randi Williams, PhD student at the MIT Media Lab. At the Black in AI workshop Randi presented her research on Popbots: A Early Childhood AI Curriculum, which is geared towards teaching preschoolers the fundamentals of artificial intelligence. In our conversation, we discuss the origins of the project, the three AI concepts that are taught in the program, and the goals that Randi hopes to accomplish with her work.
31 Jan 201943min
