Prof. Regina Barzilay, recipient of a 2017 MacArthur grant, speaks to Radio Boston’s Meghna Chakrabarti about her research. Barzilay explains that data is not currently used in the medical field “to select treatments, to personalize it, or to help the patients reduce their uncertainty about the outcomes. I really strongly felt it has to be changed.”
Prof. Regina Barzilay has been named a MacArthur grant recipient for her work in computational linguistics and with applying machine learning to the field of oncology, reports Ellen Gamerman for The Wall Street Journal. “I firmly believe there is a lot of really important information and patterns that are hidden in the data of cancer patients,” said Barzilay.
Boston Globe reporter Laura Crimaldi writes that Prof. Regina Barzilay has been awarded a Macarthur “genius grant” in recognition of her work in the field of computational linguistics. Barzilay said she plans to use the prize, “to continue to work on improving cancer care using machine learning and natural language processing.”
Rana el Kaliouby, co-founder of MIT spinoff Affectiva, speaks to Asma Khalid from WBUR’s Bostonomix about her company’s work making tech devices that are more emotionally intelligent. “We envision a world where our devices and our technologies are emotional-wear,” says el Kaliouby. “They can sense and respond to your emotions in real time in a way that makes the interaction more positive.”
In an article and accompanying puzzle they developed for The Boston Globe, Aloni Cohen, Sunoo Park, and Adam Sealfon of MIT’s Cryptography and Information Security group write about how bar and QR codes contain hidden messages. Cohen, Park and Sealfon note that the encoding scheme used in these codes, “allows not only error detection, but also error correction.”
IBM is joining forces with MIT to establish a new lab dedicated to fundamental AI research, reports the AP. The new lab will focus on, “advancing the hardware, software and algorithms used for artificial intelligence. It also will tackle some of the economic and ethical implications of intelligent machines and look at its commercial application.”
IBM has invested $240 million to develop a new AI research lab with MIT, reports Jing Cao for Bloomberg News. “The MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab will fund projects in four broad areas, including creating better hardware to handle complex computations and figuring out applications of AI in specific industries,” Cao explains.
CNBC reporter Jordan Novet writes that MIT and IBM have established a new lab to pursue fundamental AI research. Novet notes that MIT, “was home to one of the first AI labs and continues to be well regarded as a place to do work in the sector.”
Boston Globe reporter Andy Rosen writes that MIT and IBM have established a new AI research lab. “It’s amazing that we have a company that’s also interested in the fundamental research,” explains Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering. “That’s very basic research that may not be in a product next year, but provides very important insights.”
Writing for Fortune, Barb Darrow highlights how IBM has committed $240 million to establish a new joint AI lab with MIT. Darrow explains that, “the resulting MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab will focus on a handful of key AI areas including the development of new 'deep learning' algorithms.”
In an article for HuffPost highlighting new developments in AI research, Jovan Kurbalija and Sorina Teleanu feature how MIT researchers, “are one step closer to finding a way to determine why an AI system makes one decision over another.”
MIT researchers have developed a system that allows drones to scan and read RFID tags, reports Amy Wallace for UPI. Rather than use the drones to carry RFID readers, researchers found a way to use “the drones to relay signals emitted by a standard RFID reader, allowing for the more effective locating of tags,” writes Wallace.
Renée Richardson Gosline, a senior lecturer in the Sloan School of Management, writes for WBUR’s Cognoscenti about whether it is a good idea to integrate artificial intelligence in all aspects of the online shopping experience. People often “outsource decisions and tasks to technology based on the assumption that it will improve your performance,” explains Gosline.
CSAIL researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can reduce video buffering, writes Kevin Murnane for Forbes. The system, “adapts on the fly to current network and buffers conditions,” enabling smoother streaming than other methods.
During this NECN segment, Boston Business Journal reporter Kelly O’Brien discusses the new wireless sleep detection device developed by CSAIL researchers. The algorithm developed by the research team can translate radio waves emitted by the device “into usable information about where a person is in their sleep cycle,” explains O’Brien.