Embedded Files
Episode 18: A Visit to Model Land
From ancient times what we now call mathematical models have been used to predict the arrival of seasons, comet returns, and eclipses. With sophisticated mathematics, good data gathering, and modern computers we can now predict things like the tides and the trajectories of interplanetary probes with considerable accuracy. We have also made progress in predicting weather.
For some phenomena, for example earthquakes, we are still seeking to develop predictive models.
As we heard in Episode 2 of this podcast, AI systems can be described as making predictions based on models, models that are trained on vast collections of data. These models seem intuitively different from the others. However, some truths hold for both kinds of models, in particular while "all models are wrong, some models are useful," as is explained by our guest in this episode in which we eplore the world of models with Dr Erica Thompson.
Episode 17: Military intelligence and operations - It’s All About Scale
In this episode we have two guests from the most senior ranks of the Royal Air force, Air Marshals Philip Osborn and Edward Stringer. Both men joined the UK’s Royal Air Force in 1982. Air Marshal Stringer served 36 years until 2018; and Air Marshal Obsorn served 37 years until 2019.
Intelligence has always been about dredging through vast pools of dull bureaucratic documents, seeking illuminating insights. In this episode we will explore military thinking about how to responsibly use AI. One of our guests has said, “data is the new oil,” and expresses concern about the tainting of our data by our adversaries. We discuss with our guests the Royal Air Force’s use of AI in intelligence and operations. [2024-04-19]
Episode 16: Improving Colonoscopy with AI
Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of death in adults worldwide. The most important diagnostic and therapeutic technique for colorectal cancer is the colonoscopy. Gastrointestinal doctors are working with computer scientists to develop AI-based technologies to help enhance outcomes.
We are fortunate to have Professor Doctor Julia Mayerle of the University of Munich as our guest. Dr Mayerle, Chair of the Department of Medicine at LMU, a recognized center of excellence for research in oncology, is an expert in gastroenterology and hepatology with a distinguished career at premier medical institutions in Europe spanning decades. Both a researcher and a clinician, Dr Mayerle has published extensively in a wide range of research areas in internal medicine. [2024-02-16]
Episode 15: Whither the Weather Wherever (Listen)
In this episode of "Mind the Gap: Dialogs on Artificial Intelligence" we discuss US Air Force funded weather research at MIT with Major (now Lieutenant Colonel) Andrew Bowne, the chief legal counsel of the Air Force-MIT AI Accelerator. Major Bowne is a Judge Advocate in the US Air Force. In addition to his extensive legal credentials, Major Bowne is a PhD candidate in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Adelaide in Australia. (Since recording this episode Andrew Bowne has defended his dissertation and received his doctorate.) [2023-12-29]
Episode 14: Adding a Dog to the Cockpit (Listen)
In this episode of “Mind the Gap: Dialogs on Artificial Intelligence” we talk with an accomplished leader in national security. Air Marshal John Blackburn retired from the Royal Australian Air Force in 2008 as the Deputy Chief of the Air Force following a career as a fighter pilot, test pilot, and strategic planner.
Defense procurement processes struggle with rapidly evolving technologies. These next-generation systems are so expensive and so critical that nations demand strong governance in acquiring them and keeping them current.
Artificial Intelligence promises great benefits for national security, but a significant challenge is how to adapt this new technology to sophisticated weapon systems. [2023-10-11]
Episode 13: Game of Drones (Listen)
In this episode of “Mind the Gap: Dialogs on Artificial Intelligence” we discuss swarm behavior in social organisms like bees, termites and ants. These emergent behaviors point the way toward possible military applications for swarms of drones or other robots.
Our guest for this episode is Lieutenant Colonel Jason Cody from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Colonel Cody’s doctoral research at Vanderbilt focused on swarm intelligence and its potential in practical applications in human-swarm teams. [2023-08-15]
Episode 12: Nothing About Us Without Us (Listen)
We all agree that new technologies are cool, but unintended consequences can be very hard to reverse. Today we will be talking with Dr Christina Colclough, a political economist with a PhD in Sociology from the University of Copenhagen. She has been engaged for over a decade in the global discussion of digital technology as it relates to work and workers across the world. [2023-07-10]
Episode 11: AI's Invisible Hand on the Scales of Justice (Listen)
Judge Katherine Forrest, a former federal court judge and our guest in this episode, observes that machine learning systems build models from historical behavior that can reflect structural bias or discrimination. She notes that the inclusion of flawed data in AI models has serious implications for personal liberty, with particular consequences for Black defendants.
On this episode of our podcast series, we have the wonderful opportunity to discuss with Judge Forrest her observations on AI and what she thinks can be done to help ensure that these tools can lead to fair and just results. [2023-06-01]
Episode 10: Above All, Do No Harm (Listen)
Today we are speaking with Dr Rohan Shad of Stanford University Medical Center, now an Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been exploring the application of AI techniques to help surgeons anticipate and reduce risks in certain heart surgeries. [2023-05-30]
Episode 9: Too Many Stars! Too Many Galaxies! How to choose what to look at? (Listen)
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located high in the Andes in Chile, is expected to be operational near the end of 2023. The Rubin’s wide-field reflecting telescope will scan the entire southern sky every few nights. Our guest, Harvard Professor of Astronomy Edo Berger, is a leader in the Rubin Observatory’s work and will be our guide to what is intriguing in deep space, and how AI will help astronomers navigate this ocean of images. [2023-03-09]
Episode 8: “STAT” AI Helps Stroke Specialists Speed Response (Listen)
Strokes are one of the most frightening of maladies, striking as they do at the brain, the center of personhood. In this episode of Mind the Gap we talk with the founder and leader of one of the leading stroke centers, Dr Stanley Tuhrim of the Mount Sinai Comprehensive Stroke Center in New York City. Mount Sinai’s Stroke Centers have been leading adopters of powerful AI techniques, the first ever approved by the FDA for clinical application. [2023-02-06]
In this episode of Mind the Gap we talk with the President of Harvey Mudd College, Dr. Maria Klawe, who has had a distinguished career as a theoretical computer scientist, scholar, and college administrator. Dr. Klawe is also a gifted painter -- a watercolorist. And she has been painting for longer than she has been a computer scientist. In this episode we explore with Dr Klawe her widely admired paintings and her use of technology to help her focus her artistic vision. [2022-11-14]
From self-driving cars to voice automation in homes, inventors are developing ambitious AI technologies that will continue to impact the ways in which we learn, work, communicate, and travel. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the number of AI-related patents increased at an astonishing number, from 4,598 in 2008 to 20,639 in 2018. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Rama Elluru, a former Administrative Patent Judge on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the USPTO, and Christian Hannon, a patent attorney in the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs, share their perspectives on how AI is impacting patent law and the inventor community. [2022-10-17]
A supermassive black hole is estimated to be a million or a billion times bigger than the Sun, but no one truly yet understands the origins of these massive phenomena. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist and research fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford University, describes how AI is helping to answer fundamental questions about the formation and evolution of black holes and their connection to the development of galaxies. [2022-09-08]
In the early-eighteenth century, Rembrandt’s largest and most famous painting, The Night Watch, was cut down on all sides to fit on a wall in Amsterdam’s City Hall. The removed pieces were never recovered. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Rob Erdmann, Senior Scientist at Rijksmuseum and Professor at the Rijksmuseum and Professor at the University of Amsterdam, walks us through how museum scientists trained AI to successfully paint like Rembrandt to reconstruct the lost fragments of this masterpiece more than 300 years later. [2022-08-10]
Good credit impacts whether you can rent an apartment, take out a mortgage or car loan, or in some instances, receive a job offer. Financial institutions are increasingly utilizing AI to analyze non-traditional data sources, such as standardized test scores, to assess a borrower’s risk profile. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Dr. Talia Gillis, Professor of Law at Columbia University, will discuss the opportunities and challenges of AI-based lending. [2022-07-12]
So far, advances in AI are not bringing us real “intelligence.” Rather, these advances are bringing us a key part of intelligence: prediction. This enables businesses to make predictions faster and more precisely to improve their business models and marketplace advantage. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Avi Goldfarb, an economist at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and one of the authors of “Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence,” will explain the economics of AI and how it can lead to better and cheaper predictions. [2022-06-14]
AI is no longer a figment of the imagination. We are all using AI every day, whether we know it or not. Despite its prominence in daily life, AI still remains a mystery to many. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Dr. Stuart Feldman, a prominent computer scientist, will help us better understand what AI is and is not, how it can be used, and its broad impact. [2022-05-12]
AI is no longer a figment of the imagination. We are all using AI every day, whether we know it or not. Despite its prominence in daily life, AI still remains a mystery to many. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Dr. Stuart Feldman, a prominent computer scientist, will help us better understand what AI is and is not, how it can be used, and its broad impact. [2022-05-12]
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