by Editor | May 25, 2020 | Uncategorized
Hosted by the Prosperity Collaborative, a newly formed coalition of World Bank, MIT, EY, New America, and the Michael Dukakis Institute
Public finance is not a typical frontline crisis management function. Yet in recent months, revenue management has been filling a critical role in managing the public sector response to the coronavirus pandemic. As governments provide their citizens with immediate economic relief from the pandemic, public finance officials have been taking on greatly expanded responsibilities such as administering payments and other benefits programs.
The Prosperity Collaborative’s inaugural online event shares strategies that can help tax bureaus manage the crisis and serve their constituents. The first online panel will focus on how tax administrations can remain resilient by transforming their missions and operationalizing relief programs. The second online panel will explore how innovative technology can help leaders in public finance build stronger, more effective institutions.
This event is hosted by the Prosperity Collaborative, a coalition of the World Bank, MIT, EY, the Digital Impact and Governance Initiative at New America, and the Boston Global Forum Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation. They bring together a diverse set of leading partners from the public sector, private sector, academia, and civil society to develop new open source technologies and digital public goods that will transform tax systems and enhance local capacity with an initial focus on emerging economies.
Time: May 27th at 8:45am ET.
Speakers:
Marcello Estevão, Global Director, Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment, World Bank
Chiara Bronchi, Global Practice Manager, Fiscal Policy & Sustainable Growth, World Bank
Kate Barton, Global Vice Chair – Tax, EY
Sandy Pentland, Professor, Connection Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tomicah Tillemann, Director, Digital Impact and Governance Initiative, New America
Jacky Wright, Chief Digital Officer, Microsoft
Jeff Saviano, Global Tax Innovation Leader, EY
Raul Felix Junquera-Varela, Global Lead on Domestic Resource Mobilization, World Bank
Jeffrey Cooper, Executive Industry Consultant, SAS Institute
by Editor | May 25, 2020 | News
COVID-19 doesn’t create cookie-cutter infections. Some people have extremely mild cases while others find themselves fighting for their lives.
Clinicians are working with limited resources against a disease that is very hard to predict. Knowing which patients are most likely to develop severe cases could help guide clinicians during this pandemic.
We are two researchers at New York University that study predictive analytics and infectious diseases. In early January, we realized that it was very possible the new coronavirus in China was going to make its way to New York, and we wanted to develop a tool to help clinicians deal with the incoming surge of cases. We thought predictive analytics—a form of artificial intelligence—would be a good technology for this job.
In a general sense, this type of AI looks at existing data to find patterns and then uses those patterns to make predictions about the future. Using data from 53 COVID-19 cases in January and February, we developed a group of algorithms to determine which mildly ill patients were likely become severely ill.
Our experimental tool helped predict which people were going to get the most sick. In doing so, it also found some unexpected early clinical signs that predict severe cases of COVID-19.
The algorithms we designed were trained on a small data set and at this point are only a proof-of-concept tool, but with more data, we believe later versions could be extremely helpful to medical professionals.
The original article can be found here.
According to Artificial Intelligence World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net), AI can be an important technology and a potential tool for COVID-19 prediction. In this effort, Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) invites participation and collaboration with think tanks, universities, non-profits, firms, and other entities that share its commitment to the constructive and development of full-scale AI for world society.
by Editor | May 25, 2020 | News
Artificial intelligence won’t be very smart if computers don’t grasp cause and effect. That’s something even humans have trouble with.
In less than a decade, computers have become extremely good at diagnosing diseases, translating languages, and transcribing speech. They can outplay humans at complicated strategy games, create photorealistic images, and suggest useful replies to your emails.
Yet despite these impressive achievements, artificial intelligence has glaring weaknesses.
Machine-learning systems can be duped or confounded by situations they haven’t seen before. A self-driving car gets flummoxed by a scenario that a human driver could handle easily. An AI system laboriously trained to carry out one task (identifying cats, say) has to be taught all over again to do something else (identifying dogs). In the process, it’s liable to lose some of the expertise it had in the original task.
Computer scientists call this problem “catastrophic forgetting.”
These shortcomings have something in common: they exist because AI systems don’t understand causation. They see that some events are associated with other events, but they don’t ascertain which things directly make other things happen. It’s as if you knew that the presence of clouds made rain likelier, but you didn’t know clouds caused rain.
The dream of endowing computers with causal reasoning drew Bareinboim from Brazil to the United States in 2008, after he completed a master’s in computer science at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He jumped at an opportunity to study under Judea Pearl, a computer scientist and statistician at UCLA. Pearl, 83, is a giant—the giant—of causal inference, and his career helps illustrate why it’s hard to create AI that understands causality.
Pearl says AI can’t be truly intelligent until it has a rich understanding of cause and effect. Although causal reasoning wouldn’t be sufficient for an artificial general intelligence, it’s necessary, he says, because it would enable the introspection that is at the core of cognition. “What if” questions “are the building blocks of science, of moral attitudes, of free will, of consciousness,” Pearl told me.
You can’t draw Pearl into predicting how long it will take for computers to get powerful causal reasoning abilities. “I am not a futurist,” he says. But in any case, he thinks the first move should be to develop machine-learning tools that combine data with available scientific knowledge: “We have a lot of knowledge that resides in the human skull which is not utilized.”
The original article can be found here
Professor Judea Pearl is a pioneer on Causal Inference and AI, and his work was also recognized with a Turing Award in 2011. At this moment, Professor Pearl also contribute on Causal Inference for AI transparency, which is one of important AI World Society (AIWS.net) topics on AI Ethics from by Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) and Boston Global Forum (BGF).
by Editor | May 17, 2020 | News
The WHO has been accused by U.S. and allies of turning a blind eye while China withheld information
Japan will call for an investigation into the World Health Organization’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said.
“With the European Union, (Japan) will propose that a fair, independent and comprehensive verification be conducted,” Abe said on an internet program Friday May 15, 2020.
He said the proposal will be made at the WHO’s general assembly to begin Monday.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also said Friday that Japan is joining a chorus of calls for such an investigation, which should be conducted by an independent body.
“This disease has had a devastating impact on the entire world, and information must be shared between countries in a free, transparent and timely manner, lest we risk it spreading even more quickly,” Motegi said in a parliamentary session, in reference to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“There’s a lot of discussion in the international community about precisely where the virus came from and the initial response,” he said. “There needs to be a thorough investigation, and it’s crucial that this be carried out by an independent body.”
The original article can be found here.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was honored with the World Leader for Peace and Security Award by the Boston Global Forum at Harvard University Faculty Club on Global Cybersecurity Day December 12, 2015.
by Editor | May 17, 2020 | Event Updates
Professor Cheryl Misak will speak about life of Frank Ramsey at 10:00 am EST, June 6, 2020 on AIWS House, a part of the History of AI, at AIWS.net.
Frank Ramsey, a philosopher, economist, and mathematician, was one of the greatest minds of the last century.
Professor Judea Pearl, Mentor of AIWS.net, said: “Ramsey was definitely one of the clearest forerunners of subjective probabilities and the revival of Bayes statistics in the 20th century, which influenced the 1970-90 debate on how to represent uncertainty in AI systems.”
Cheryl Misak is a Professor of Philosophy and former Vice President and Provost at the University of Toronto.
She is the author numerous papers and five books: Cambridge Pragmatism: From Peirce and James to Ramsey and Wittgenstein (OUP 2016); The American Pragmatists (OUP 2013); Truth, Politics, Morality: Pragmatism and Deliberation (Routledge 2000); Verificationism: Its History and Prospects (Routledge 1995) and Truth and the End of Inquiry: A Peircean Account of Truth (OUP 1991).
She has published a biography of the great Cambridge philosopher, mathematician, and economist, Frank Ramsey, who died in 1930 at the age of 26. It was published in April, 2020 by Oxford University Press, under the title Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers.
by Editor | May 17, 2020 | News
At AIWS Roundtable May 12, 2020 co-organized by World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and Boston Global Forum, Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT, Co-founder and Mentor of AIWS.net, talked about the Social Contract 202, a New Social Contract in the Age of AI. This Social Contract was officially launched on May 5, 2020 by the Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation. This Social Contract is considered a paper of the United Nations 2045 project. Professor Choucri said: “While TCP/IP is the platform for communication among internet users, Social Contract 2020 can be seen as a platform for connection between governments, stakeholders, and private and public institutions.”
“The overall objective of Social Contract 2020 is to help build a multi-stakeholder AI- intensive society in all aspects of life from politics, governments, economics, business, and industry, all the way to the social order and the life of each individual. Social Contract 2020 eencourages everyone to value the acts of creation, innovation, philanthropy, and mutual respect. It seeks the respect and right to have freedom on, and access to, the Internet worldwide. The vision of Social Contract 2020 is to make our world a place of honest and responsible interaction. That means, a place where everyone’s contribution is recognized and everyone has a right to knowledge and access to information, where no one is above the law, where money cannot be used to subvert political process, and were integrity, knowledge, creativity, honesty and kindness are seen as key values in shaping decision and policy.”
“In short, Social Contract 2020 is for shaping a world where all stakeholders are recognized, and all forms of governance adhere these values and are accountable and transparent. It is a world where only by working together it is possible to address and resolve global challenges.”
“Extensive and appropriate AI application to politics, governments, society, and businesses can create a Smart Democracy supporting a global supply chain. The Smart Democracy Social Contract 2020 creates a platform for a new global supply chain, named Supply Chain 2020. As a critically important framework for society in the AI age, the Social Contract 2020 is based on balancing power among all stakeholders and among governments, businesses, civil society, individuals, and AI assistants. Being an important contract, the Social Contract 2020 is a commitment of main stakeholders to protect property, common values, and norms for good between nations.”
The authors of the Social Contract 2020 are:
Governor Michael Dukakis
Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of the Boston Global Forum, Director of Michael Dukakis Institute.
Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT
Professor Alex Pentland, MIT
Professor Thomas Patterson, Harvard
Professor David Silbersweig, Harvard
Mr. Pham Trong Nghia, Deputy Director General at National Assembly Office, Vietnam
The Social Contract 2020 can be found here.
by Editor | May 17, 2020 | News
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) application identifies anomalies in the lungs and assists in detection of COVID-19 pneumonia. It analyses the lung pathology on chest CT to aid in the assessment and comes with triage capability. With the sudden surge in admission of respiratory-related patients globally, triaging can help to reduce the increasing burden on the intensive care units (ICU) and address the shortage of medical resources.
Raymond Moh, CEO of BioMind, said: “We are proud to receive the Health Sciences Authority’s approval for our COVID-19 diagnostics support product. This was born out of the immense efforts and collaborations between clinicians, lung specialists and our engineers. In an unprecedented crisis like this, we hope to quickly scale our solution in Asia, Europe, Middle East and USA to equip physicians with smart tools to detect and manage COVID-19 pneumonia. Artificial intelligence will be their useful assistant daily in this long battle.”
Hanalytics, a medical AI company behind this solution, is also the brainchild of the BioMind application to assist diagnosis in neurological disorders including brain tumours and haemorrhagic stroke.
The company uses a deep learning approach and develops a predictive application that is trained on a large volume of CT scans which are clinically confirmed to have COVID-19 infections. This allows them to be used as an assistive tool to physicians to recognise diseases on medical scans, automate quantitative analysis and assist in report writing quickly.
The original article can be found here.
Regarding to AI impact for world society matter and global healthcare especially during COVID-19 pandemic, the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) established the Artificial Intelligence World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net) for helping people achieve well-being and happiness, relieve them of resource constraints and arbitrary/inflexible rules and processes, and solve important issues, such as SDGs.
by Editor | May 17, 2020 | News
An Interview with Dr. Deborah Duong, Director for AI Development at Rejuve.
Dr. Duong says, “Healthcare workers and essential workers need to go to work during the Covid-19 pandemic. That puts them in danger even if they are wearing masks and gloves. They should be equipped with more information about their own health and the likelihood of infection in their places of work to make informed decisions. If they are empowered with a wearable that can alert them of the imminent infection of Covid-19 or if the probability of infection is extremely high, they can immediately decide to isolate themselves from their families, etc.”
Complex Adaptive Systems can potentially help us find a “Covid-19 data signature” from observations made from interaction data collected inside the population of people who are infected and who are not infected.
By discovering patterns using Artificial Intelligence and causal inference, conceptual groups can be identified and data can be analyzed in the context of what is happening within the society.
The media does a good job of scrutinizing AI systems for privacy, data ownership and security issues. It is possible to build a Complex Adaptive System that gives individuals their data ownership, preserves privacy and is secure. At the same time, through Artificial Intelligence with causal inference, a decision network can be created to inform policymakers. Much like the Markov Decision Process, data can be modeled in simulations. A percentage of the population can wear the wearables so that the least amount of data necessary for accurate decisioning can be collected and used for policy.
The original article can be found here.
It is useful to note that AI with causal inference has been developed by professor Judea Pearl, who is awarded Turing Award 2011, the most prestigious prize awarded to computer scientists by the Association for Computing Machinery. In 2020, Professor Pearl is also awarded as World Leader in AI World Society (AIWS.net) by Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) and Boston Global Forum (BGF). At this moment, Professor Judea Pearl also contribute on Causal Inference for AI transparency, which is one of important AIWS.net topics on AI Ethics.
by Editor | May 10, 2020 | News
The Social Contract 2020 sets the foundation for a new historical chapter: the emergence of AI societies. Governor Michael Dukakis stressed the importance of studying history to prevent past mistakes from repeating in the present and the future. I value his insight and would like to add that looking back at history is a way to shape and invent the future. We should not content ourselves with merely predicting the future; with AI as our tools, we can strive to innovate and organize it.
With that idea in mind, AIWS.net shall announce today May 5, 2020, a new project—The History of AI—as a companion to the Social Contract 2020. While many individuals and organizations study the history of AI already, AIWS will study the field from a different angle and with a different approach. Our approach will be cross-sectional with the following structure:
- Ideology, motivating ideas, methodology, model, and solutions in AI.
- AI inventions in science and technology
- AI applications in politics, government, economics, and society
The project aims to identify historical events, figures, and accomplishments, as well as lessons, documents, evidence, witness, and anecdotes, with the aim to study AI to shape the future of AI. The History of AI project will accompany the Social Contract. An AI Chronicle e-book version is available on AIWS’s website. There will also be AIWS House in Boston and on university campuses around the world.
The History of AI Board include Governor Michael Dukakis, Professor Judea Pearl (UCLA), Professor Alex Pentland (MIT), Nguyen Anh Tuan (Michael Dukakis Institute), Professor Nazli Choucri (MIT), Professor Thomas Patterson (Harvard University), Professor David Silbersweig (Harvard University), and Historian Chien Minh Le (President of Dalat University). The AI History Board will assess and identify historical events, figures, and achievements to feature in the AI.
Chronicle e-book, which will be updated monthly and reviewed annually. Our approach will be open-ended: based on our findings, we will develop research on the above criteria, and we invite individuals and organizations to contribute to the project by gathering documents, stories and participating in analysis.
The History of AI belongs to all citizens, and anyone who contributes their mind and efforts can shape it.
Together, we shall envision the Social Contract 2020, put it into practice, and invent the History of AI.
The original post can be found here.
