by BGF | Dec 3, 2018 | News
A startup called Lightelligence recently developed a new AI chip power machine learning using light instead of electrons.
Since the emergence of deep learning, it has proven to be of great use. For example, it enables machines to execute with more than just competitive tasks. The deep learning algorithms will give machines power to do sophisticated tasks like labeling images, translating text, etc. The algorithm requires a thorough training and a huge amount of data for AI to learn. Nowadays, companies are using this method to enhance their business.
If the information can be transferred at the speed of light, the AI algorithms will be capable of perform hundreds of times faster. Lightelligence has recently developed a new kind of chip powered by light instead of electrons to carry the core mathematical computations for machine learning. This chip can have a big impact on the world of AI.
CEO of Lightelligence, Yichen Shen, explained the key behind this technology. Since Photons are faster than electrons and their movements through the chips won’t overheat, though its behaviors are less predictable. They recently sent his chip’s design to a manufacturer.
This technology could offer huge opportunities for the world of AI. Yet, giving it so much power can result in a development speed beyond our control. It needed to be careful monitored and regulated for machine as well as its developers. There are organizations such as the Michael Dukakis Institution (with the AIWS Initiative and the AIWS 7-Layer Model) are constantly researching and raising people’s awareness to ensure the future of AI.
by BGF | Dec 3, 2018 | News
AI has been thriving and living among us for the last decade. It has enhanced the way human’s efficiency greatly. Even so, there is still a widespread fear over the threat of AI based on people’s common misconceptions. Here are the three key confusions need to be addressed.
AI is robot
It is the entertainment industry to blame when it comes to human’s notion about AI. When we think of robots, the picture of Bicentennial Man, Wall-E, or Sophia, the digital humanoid, appears. However, AI is much more advanced than that. It can anticipate natural disasters, diseases, do chores, test the efficiency of drug, etc. It also can increase the work’s efficiency and productivity.
AI is going to replace humans
Due to the domination of negative predictions on the news, people are terrorized by statistics. Thus, they believe AI is going take over human’s job markets. In fact, AI is developed by human to serve human needs. Furthermore, it is excellent at repetitive tasks. The same is not true for empathy, judgment, and general life experience.
Another reason that machines can’t replace human is that the rise in number of machines also means rise in the jobs surrounding them as the working progress of AI requires human intervention and supervision.
AI is dangerous in the wrong hands
AI can be used for good or evil as with any other technology. However, the problem is never actually the technology, it is the people who use it. Taking the example of the 2016 Election, it is the responsibility of the platform wielder to ensure its user’s safety.
To sum up, we are developing AI, and it is up to us make sure AI make the best decisions. To give AI the abilities to do all of these tasks, it requires monitoring, regulations as well as ethical frameworks which are something the Michael Dukakis Institution is on.
by BGF | Dec 3, 2018 | News
The Former Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis was George H.R Bush’s competitor in 1988 election. He acknowledged Bush’s contribution to ending the Cold War.
On November 30, 2018, George H.R Bush, the 41st President of the United States (1989 – 1993), passed away at the age of 94 at his home surrounded by his family.
In the telephone interview by the Associated Press, Gov. Michael Dukakis, Chairman of Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, expressed his admiration to Bush’s accomplishment. Although he never had a friendship with Bush, he thought him being a wise and thoughtful man. In addition, Dukakis praised Bush for being willing to work with Democrats and his effort in negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachëv to end the Cold War.
by BGF | Dec 3, 2018 | News
On December 1, World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid is celebrating its President Vaira Vike-Freiberga 85th birthday.
Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the former President of Latvia (1999-2007) and the President of the World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) since 2014.
Since the end of her presidency in July 2007, Dr. Vike-Freiberga has been actively participating as an invited speaker at a wide variety of international events. She is a member, board member or patron of 29 international organizations, including the WLA-CdM, the Council of Women World Leaders, the International Criminal Court Trust Fund for Victims, the European Council on Foreign Relations, as well as four Academies. Among her international activities, in December 2007, she was appointed by the European Council’s Vice-Chair of the Reflection Group on the long-term future of Europe. From 2011 to 2012, she chaired the High-level Group on Freedom and Pluralism of the Media in the EU.
Regardless of her age, she continues to make outstanding contribution to the world. She is also a member of Boston Global Forum’s Board of Thinkers. On May 15, 2018, Dr. Vike-Freiberga was honored as the Distinguished Innovation Leader for her distinguished work in the humanities and social sciences by Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute.
by BGF | Nov 25, 2018 | News
The New York Times gathered five big thinkers in a room at a bar for a three-hour dinner to discuss the future of healthcare and humanity under the moderation of Mark Jannot.
The five guests at the table were:
- Catherine Mohr is an engineer, a medical doctor, Vice President of Strategy at Intuitive Surgical (makers of the Da Vinci surgical robot), and President of the Intuitive Foundation;
- Siddhartha Mukherjee is a physician, biologist, oncologist and author of “The Gene: An Intimate History” and “The Emperor of All Maladies: a biography of cancer,” which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction;
- Regina Barzilay is a professor at MIT and a member of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory;
- George Church is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and director of personalgenomes.org, an open-access information resource on human genomic, environmental and trait data;
- Jennifer Egan is a writer whose most recent novel, “Manhattan Beach,” was awarded the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in fiction.
The topic of the talk varied into many sections from genes editing to AI.
The first topic of genes started with a question: Will we engineer our children, and ourselves?
The idea of editing the sperm cell, collecting the best traits and removing all the diseases fascinates people. “You could edit the sperm, change that allele so that all sperm are healthy, and your offspring will be fine. All sperm come from spermatogonia stem cells in the man’s testes. You can use editing tools and work on stem cells in Petri dishes so that you’re removing the bad allele and replacing it with DNA that has been designed and synthesized on computer-controlled machines,” said Professor George Church.
However, it has not been done since scientists have not figured out the way to apply stem cells and sperm cell. Mukherjee claimed that they edited a gene in human blood stem cells to enable therapy for some form of leukemia, then they encountered technical issues, but the potential of the system is remarkable. In addition, mature people can also have their genes edited by adding and removing DNA parts. Nonetheless, in such complex system, all the adjustment can bring some unexpected side effects we can’t control.
What are the most interesting applications for AI in medicine right now?
In Barzilay’s opinion, the interesting application of AI is the ability to personalize user experience by collecting our data. She told the story of how she found out she had breast cancer. Many questions she had at the time could have been answered by AI better than human doctor who would make you wait for months to diagnose the symptoms in such an unnecessary procedure.
With the help of AI, medicine can be transformed, as it can provide early detection and save many lives. However, it might take time, but with thorough training through a huge amount of database, record, AI could reach human level in diagnosis. “To achieve this, it isn’t just recognizing what is in the picture or the sounds; these algorithms need to understand the context, where you are in the procedure, what’s going to happen and what should ordinarily happen next,” said Catherine Mohr.
Will we know too much?
As the data collected is going to be enormous, we can even actually make even deeper clinical assessment for example life expectancy. This might result in privacy problems as the body can be known too well. Your own data could also go beyond your control and fall into any hand.
Will we live longer and happier?
According to Mohr, as our living condition improves, healthcare is much better, diseases are predicted earlier, it is a fact that the longevity will be extended. However, there might still be a chance that we could only extend the weaker part of our life, which is not what we desire; secondly, our time could be longer but living too long means using more resources of the planet.
Regarding people’s happiness, “we already confront so much less death than people did, say, before antibiotics. But does having fewer of those losses really make us happier?” asked Egan.
Mohr also claimed what bring joy to life were working toward the acquisition of new skills and the ability to make choices for yourself. However, if we live in an era when machines do most of thing, we will have none of this. So what will we do with those machines? We will need an ethical framework for using machines for peace and safety, which is what Michael Dukakis Institute is doing with the AIWS Initiative.
