CIFAR

Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus

Leah Cowen

Wesley Hall

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Department of Computer Science

Subheadline

The 2024 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics - known to many as the "godfather of AI" - was honoured at an event attended by a who's who of the Toronto research community

There were standing ovations, peals of laughter and even a few tears as the ��߲ݴ�ý welcomed Geoffrey Hinton back to campus after he won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.

A University Professor Emeritus of computer science, Hinton traded the “cheap hotel room in California,” where he received the life-changing news, for an emotional reception in the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus’s airy event hall.

The Oct. 10 event drew U of T leaders, supporters, dignitaries and other luminaries. They included Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, University Professor Emeritus John Polanyi, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986, and Massey College Principal James Orbinski, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Doctors Without Borders in 1999.

Several of Hinton’s many collaborators and proteges also attended the event – not to mention students who were simply eager to catch a glimpse of the “godfather of AI.”

Hinton chats with U of T Scarborough Professor David Fleet and Google Research Scientists Sara Sabour and Daniel Watson (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Though sleep deprived, Hinton regaled the audience with fond recollections of his early years as an AI researcher, snapshots of his trademark dry humour and warm expressions of gratitude for mentors, collaborators and, of course, his many students.

“I’ve been blessed to have brilliant graduate students and post-docs,” Hinton said.

“I had a principle when selecting graduate students: ‘If they’re not smarter than me, what’s the point?’ And I’ve had quite a number of graduate students who were smarter than me.

“They did things I wouldn’t have been able to do, so I’d like to thank them.”

He said two figures in particular played a huge role in the work that led to his Nobel Prize, which he shared with Princeton University’s John J. Hopfield. The first was Terry Sejnowsky, a computational neuroscientist and former student of Hopfield’s, who worked with Hinton on Boltzmann machines – a period Hinton described as “the most happy research time of my life.”

He also praised the contributions of the late David Rumelhart, a psychologist at Stanford University, who worked with him to develop backpropagation algorithms, a key breakthrough.

“[He] should have won the Nobel Prize,” Hinton said. “But unfortunately, Dave got a horrible brain disease and he died quite young.” (The Nobel organization doesn’t award the honour posthumously).

Hinton poses for a picture with Assistant Professor Chris Maddison, who was one of the last graduate students Hinton supervised (photo by Mac Pattanasuttinont)

Chris Maddison joined Hinton’s research group as an undergraduate and was one of the last students he supervised. Now an assistant professor in U of T’s departments of computer science and statistical sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Maddison lauded Hinton as “a steadfast mentor and supporter who saw strength in me that I didn’t see” and said one of his greatest attributes was his sheer enthusiasm.

“No matter what’s going on, you can find him in the lab on Sundays at 8 p.m. playing with his MATLAB scripts like a child playing with Legos,” Maddison said. “He never lost that child-like sense of wonder that buoyed him and the group.”

U of T President Meric Gertler said, via video message from Indonesia, where he was on university business, that Hinton is “one of the great minds of the 21st century” (photo by Johnny Guatto)

U of T President Meric Gertler, who was in Indonesia on university business when the prize was announced, hailed Hinton in a video message as “one of the great minds of the 21st century” and someone who “literally created new ways of thinking about thinking and learning.”

He noted that Hinton’s AI leadership extends to the pressing question of responsible and safe development of the technology.

“With his Nobel win, he’s now perfectly positioned to amplify this concern on a world stage.” President Gertler said.

Hinton shares a laugh with University Professor Molly Shoichet of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (photo by Johnny Guatto)

The event’s guest list served as a reminder of Hinton’s outsized influence on the research community in Toronto and beyond, drawing key figures from: the Vector Institute, where Hinton is co-founder and chief scientific adviser; the Schwartz Reisman Institute of Technology and Society, where he sits on the advisory board; and CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), where Hinton is an adviser and longtime fellow.

Hinton poses for a photo with Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, reminded the accomplished audience that Hinton’s historic achievement – both the Nobel Prize and the AI revolution he helped spark – was the result of years toiling in an “unpromising backwater” of AI research.

“It is tempting to think that it happened almost overnight, but it didn’t,” Cowen said.

University Professors Emeriti – and fellow Nobel Prize-winners – Geoffrey Hinton and John Polanyi have their photo taken together (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Hinton took time to reflect on periods of personal struggle and tragedy – and thank those who helped him in his hour of need.

When his wife had an incurable form of cancer, he recalled how U of T President Emeritus David Naylor, a physician, medical researcher and former dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, carried out research on a possible alternative treatment that was being explored – incorporating input from top medical experts – and presented him with a report of his findings.

“He’s a tremendous human being,” Hinton said of Naylor, who was in the audience.

Hinton shares a moment with U of T President Emeritus David Naylor (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Hinton also recalled how, when his first wife became ill in 1993 – also with cancer – his post-doctoral trainee Peter Dayan, now a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, stepped in to advise Hinton’s graduate students, giving him time to care for his ailing spouse.

“At times like this, you remember the people who helped you most when things were very difficult,” Hinton said.

He later pointed out that Dayan went on to supervise one of this year’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Demis Hassabis, joking that this made Dayan “the meat in a Nobel sandwich.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada was lucky to have Hinton, who was born in the U.K., and thanked his daughter for sharing her father with the country, with science and the world (photo by Johnny Guatto)

For Minister Freeland, Hinton’s award showcased the value of ideas and of fundamental research. She said Hinton’s Nobel Prize sent waves of pride across Canada, which she said was “lucky as a country” that Hinton arrived on its shores back in 1987.

“Geoff shows that you can be a really brilliant intellectual and also a really great human being who cares about his community and his country,” Freeland said. “I am constantly struck by how Geoff thinks about the bigger implications of his ideas and how Geoff thinks about really wanting to make Canada and the world a better place.”

Hinton chats with Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, who thanked him for his friendship and mentorship – and his dedication to science and scholarship (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Following the program – which also featured remarks by U of T Chancellor Wes Hall, Faculty of Arts & Science Dean Melanie Woodin and Christine Szustaczek, U of T’s vice-president, communications – Hinton mingled with members of the audience, shook hands with students and caught up with former colleagues and trainees.

Clockwise from top left: Christine Szustaczek, Wes Hall, Chris Maddison, Leah Cowen, Geoffrey Hinton and Melanie Woodin (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Brendan Frey, professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and CEO of AI-powered therapeutics startup Deep Genomics, said he was one of many who earned his PhD under Hinton’s supervision.

“I think of Geoff as the father of a community that includes myself, other graduate students and all the people who didn’t believe but then came to believe – and he inspired all of us,” said Frey, who shared a hug with his former supervisor following the event.

“I’m really happy for him.”

How will AI change our world? U of T podcast explores technology’s impact on society

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 15:17:45 +0000

How will AI change our world? U of T podcast explores technology’s impact on society

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 04/04/2024 - 11:17

Mariam Matti

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Unity Health

What Now? AI

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Alumni

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Faculty of Information

Faculty of Law

Geoffrey Hinton

Startups

U of T Mississauga

Subheadline

In What Now? AI, hosts Beth Coleman and Rahul Krishnan explore – and demystify – artificial intelligence and its impact on society with the help of leading experts

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are posing profound questions about the future – and about us.

Can we ensure safety and alignment within AI systems? How might AI forever transform fields like health care? What ripple effects could AI have on jobs and livelihoods, including in creative industries?

��߲ݴ�ý researchers Beth Coleman and Rahul Krishnan explore – and demystify – these and other topics by tapping into the knowledge of leading AI experts in What Now? AI, a new U of T podcast that launches this week.

It can be found on Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio and Amazon.

An associate professor at U of T Mississauga’s Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and the Faculty of Information, Coleman says she hopes the episodes help audiences make sense of new AI tools and systems by cutting through “all the noisiness and controversy that has taken over the headlines.”

“It can be complex and technical, but it’s also social,” says Coleman, a research lead on AI policy and praxis at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology & Society.

“What we do with AI makes a difference and more people need to be able to share that knowledge.”

Coleman’s own research centres around technology and society with a focus on data and cities, AI and policy, and generative arts. Inspired by Octavia Butler’s 1980 Xenogenesis trilogy, Coleman authored Reality Was Whatever Happened: Octavia Butler AI and Other Possible Worlds using art and generative AI.

Krishnan, meanwhile, is an assistant professor in U of T’s department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. A Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute and Canada Research Chair in computational medicine, Krishnan and his team focus on teaching neural networks about causality, building deep learning models that analyze cause and effect from data.

“I’m excited to co-host this podcast to explore and demystify for a broader audience AI through the lens of an accomplished and diverse set of experts,” says Krishnan, who is also a faculty affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and a faculty member at the Temerty Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM).

What Now? AI picks up where the conversation started last year by Geoffrey Hinton, the cognitive psychologist and University Professor emeritus of computer science who is known as the “Godfather of AI.” After a lifetime spent developing a type of AI known as deep learning, Hinton stepped back from his role at Google to warn about the existential threats of unchecked AI development.

Since then, there have been ongoing advancements in AI research, technological applications and policy development.

Coleman and Krishnan will tackle these and other topics with guests:

Gillian Hadfield, professor of law and strategic management at the Faculty of Law and the Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society.
Roger Grosse, associate professor of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and founding member of the Vector Institute.
Christine Allen, professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and co-founder and CEO of Intrepid Labs Inc.
Andrew Pinto, a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, and associate professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Nick Frosst, co-founder of Cohere, singer in Good Kid band and a U of T computer science and cognitive science alumnus.

“The What Now? AI podcast highlights the incredible researchers at the ��߲ݴ�ý who are exploring the profound implications of this transformative technology,” says Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “These discussions tackle critical questions surrounding AI safety and alignment and its myriad implications across various domains.

“The university is committed to fostering informed discussions that will shape our collective understanding of AI’s role in our society and in our future.”

Coleman says she hopes listeners come away from the podcast feeling more grounded.

Krishnan, for his part, wants the audience to understand “that there is no one group that has ownership” over the technology” and that “the free exchange of ideas and open-source tools encourage people from all disciplines to come see how accessible AI can be, what AI can do for them and how they can advance the discourse in the field.”

Zombies aren’t real – but fungal health threats are: U of T’s Leah Cowen on CBC Radio

siddiq22 — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 21:16:31 +0000

Zombies aren’t real – but fungal health threats are: U of T’s Leah Cowen on CBC Radio

siddiq22 Fri, 03/10/2023 - 16:16

Cutline

(photo by Liane Hentscher/HBO)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Leah Cowen

Vice-president of Research and Innovation and Strategic Initiatives

Molecular Genetics

Fans following every twist and turn of the HBO series The Last of Us have found themselves intrigued by its premise – based on a 2013 video game, the series is set 20 years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which causes its hosts to transform into zombie-type creatures.

Leah Cowen

With the season finale on March 12 approaching, Leah Cowen, co-director of the fungal kingdom program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, spoke with CBC Radio’s The Current about the staggering impact of fungi on our world – from benefits to threats.

“They're the only organisms that are causing extinctions in real time. There are millions of different kinds of fungal species out there, and they cause different kinds of infections,” Cowen, a professor in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, told host Matt Galloway.

“Some of them you can acquire by inhaling spores that are widespread in the environment. Some of them are already inside your body and living there as sort of natural members of your microbiota. And so there are different kinds of infection … all the way through to invasive disease, which would be disseminated through the bloodstream – and those are the ones that are really deadly.”

While fungi may not turn people into zombie-like creatures like on The Last of Us, they do kill an estimated 1.5 million people each year and can threaten the health of immunocompromised people, Cowen said, noting that despite such serious implications, research into fungi remains underfunded.

The fungal world does have its benefits, Cowen pointed out – including helping plants to “colonize the planet,” their ability to break down plastics and help with carbon capture – but more study of both the positives and negatives would further reveal the full complexity of these organisms.

Cowen, who admits she hasn’t yet seen The Last of Us, said that understanding fungi could help us better understand ourselves.

“Fungi are actually closely related to humans. It may not look like it – but in fact, it's true,” she said. “Which means that fungi serve as fantastic model organisms – so we can study the function of genes or biological processes in a simpler system and be able to learn what might be relevant in the context of more complex organisms and human biology and disease.”

Listen to Leah Cowen on The Current

Two U of T professors named Canada CIFAR AI Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 18:15:23 +0000

Two U of T professors named Canada CIFAR AI Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 10/31/2022 - 14:15

Cutline

(Photos courtesy of Gillian Hadfield and Anatole von Lilienfeld)

U of T News Team

Topic

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Acceleration Consortium

Faculty of Law

��߲ݴ�ý professors Gillian Hadfield, director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology & Society, and Anatole von Lilienfeld, of the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, have been named Canada CIFAR AI Chairs in recognition of their global leadership in artificial intelligence research.

Seven of the eight new chairs, including Hadfield and von Lillienfeld, are affiliated with Toronto’s Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, launched in 2017 through a partnership between U of T, federal and provincial governments and industry. The eighth chair has been appointed to Edmonton’s Amii.

Hadfield, a professor in U of T’s Faculty of Law and the Rotman School of Management, becomes the first Vector-affiliated social scientist to be named a CIFAR AI chair.

“It’s both inspiring and humbling to be joining the growing cohort of exceptional people that comprise Canada’s CIFAR AI Chairs,” Hadfield said. “I’m most looking forward to deepening interdisciplinary collaborations that I believe can contribute to meeting the challenge of building AI systems that promote human well-being in responsible and socially beneficial ways.”

Machine learning and physical chemistry specialist von Lilienfeld joined U of T last year. He is the Clark Chair in Advanced Materials at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and a member of U of T’s Acceleration Consortium, an institutional strategic initiative at U of T that focuses on combining AI and robotics to accelerate the design and discovery of new materials.

“It's an honour to be a part of this groundbreaking community,” said von Lilienfeld, who holds a cross appointment in the department of materials science and engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “Joining Canada's CIFAR AI Chairs will be a great opportunity to further the use of AI for chemical and materials sciences.

“In our search for better, safer, more sustainable materials and products, AI is an invaluable tool that will help guide and accelerate our research and development.”

The CIFAR AI Chairs program is a cornerstone of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which aims to recruit the world's top AI researchers to Canada and retain existing talent. It provides university-affiliated faculty with long-term, dedicated funding to support cutting-edge research programs and help train the next generation of AI leaders.

This latest round of appointments will advance Canadian research in fields of inquiry identified through the second phase of the strategy as priority areas: AI for health; AI for energy and the environment; the fundamental science of AI; and the responsible use of AI, CIFAR said in a statement.

“The new Canada CIFAR AI Chairs joining Amii and the Vector Institute are an extraordinarily talented group of researchers who will continue to educate and inspire the next generation of AI leaders and advance research in exciting and important areas,” said Elissa Strome, CIFAR’s executive director, Pan-Canadian AI Strategy.

Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, said the appointments – alongside the announcement a few days earlier of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, illustrate the importance of the thriving AI ecosystem in Toronto and across Canada.

“Canada led the early development of deep learning and the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy is building on the legacy of that pioneering work,” Cowen said. “Twenty-three researchers at U of T now hold AI chairs through this important program, and their transformative research – along with the work of all the CIFAR AI chairs, across the country – is advancing not only the development, but the responsible use of artificial intelligence and its applications to build a better, stronger future.

“Gillian Hadfield and Anatole von Lilienfeld will be important contributors to this vibrant, dynamic community of world-leading AI researchers.”

François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a statement that AI is one of the greatest technological transformations and economic opportunities of our time.

“Congratulations to our eight new chairholders – you join other world-leading researchers who are driving efforts to build a stronger economy, develop cleaner energy, improve public health, and increase innovation in Canada,” he said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visits U of T for AI roundtable

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 14:02:18 +0000

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visits U of T for AI roundtable

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 09/26/2022 - 10:02

Cutline

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, left, shakes hands with U of T President Meric Gertler outside of Simcoe Hall (photo by Polina Teif)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Leah Cowen

Deep Learning

Geoffrey Hinton

Global

Meric Gertler

Robotics

South Korea

The ��߲ݴ�ý welcomed South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to campus last week to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) – its rise, potential applications and opportunities for further collaboration between U of T and South Korean partners.

President Yoon hailed Toronto as an AI powerhouse, saying that Canada’s status as a world leader in AI and a centre of the global AI supply chain was the result of the country recognizing the potential economic and social impacts of the technology early on.

He also said the tenacity and persistence of researchers such as University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer of the AI field of deep learning, served as a “benchmark” for South Korean efforts to advance the technologies of the future, adding that he was delighted to visit U of T, which he described as “one of the most prestigious universities in North America.”

U of T President Meric Gertler, for his part, said he was “deeply honoured” to welcome President Yoon, who, he said, “has made it a priority to work closely with South Korea's allies and partners, advancing openness, human rights, democracy and the rule of law, with clear purpose and integrity.”

(Photo by Polina Teif)

President Gertler noted that the South Korean delegation’s visit comes at a time when Toronto has emerged as the third-largest tech hub in North America, with the city’s AI and machine learning ecosystem at the heart of this growth.

“Together with the Vector Institute, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), MaRS and other partners – all within a walking distance of this room – we have created one of the world’s richest pools of talent,” President Gertler said.

He added that U of T, its local partners and South Korean organizations stand to learn much from each other when it comes to AI research, development, innovation and education.

“Partnering with Korea’s leading universities, innovative firms and exceptionally talented researchers is an extraordinary opportunity for all parties to benefit as we deepen our collective commitment to excellence and to tackling the world’s most pressing challenges.”

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

President Yoon’s visit to U of T took place during the first day of his two-day visit to Canada, which included a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa the following day.

It also came less than two weeks after the government of Ontario concluded a trade mission to South Korea and Japan, led by Vic Fedeli, the province’s minister of economic development job creation and trade.

Fedeli, who attended the U of T event, said Toronto’s reputation as a global hub in AI was regularly impressed upon him during his time in South Korea.

“At every single stop that we made, we heard people talk about Canada, AI, U of T, the Vector Institute – they see Canada as a real leader in AI and they’re very eager to learn,” Fedeli said.

He noted there was a strong desire in South Korea to see more Korean students come to Canada to further their education in STEM fields, including in AI. “They want a bigger influx of Korean students – and we told them, ‘The door’s open,’ because we really believe this is going to help society. We’ve seen some examples of what AI has done and we’re very eager to continue to see the development of AI.”

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Fedeli added that he hoped the high-level meeting would further strengthen the economic relationship between Ontario and South Korea, helping to spark AI advances that give both Ontarian and Korean companies a competitive edge on the global stage.

Held at Simcoe Hall, the meeting included a roundtable discussion titled “AI for the Better Future of Humanity,” that featured AI leaders and luminaries, including Hinton and Lee Jong-ho, the Republic of Korea’s Minister of Science and ICT (information and communication technology).

The talk, moderated by Leah Cowen (pictured below), U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, also included contributions from Garth Gibson, president and CEO of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence; Elissa Strome, executive director of Pan-Canadian AI Strategy at CIFAR; and Professor Lisa Austin, chair in law and technology at U of T’s Faculty of Law and associate director at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Attendees watched demonstrations by U of T professors and graduate students from the U of T Robotics Institute, as well as presentations by South Korean companies, including Samsung and LG – both of which have expanded their presence and connections with Toronto and U of T in recent years – and was also used to announce a new U of T exchange program with the South Korean government’s Institute for Information & communication Technology Planning & evaluation (IITP).

(Photo by Polina Teif)

On the subject of AI, Hinton said he believes the deep learning revolution is just getting underway and that he expects tremendous growth in the years ahead.

“We now know that if you take a neural net and you just make it bigger and give it more data and more computing power, it’ll work better. So even with no new scientific insights, things are going to improve,” Hinton said during the roundtable discussion. “But we also know there are tens of thousands of brilliant young minds now thinking about how to make these networks better, so there will be many new scientific insights.”

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

In the long-term, Hinton (pictured at the lecturn above) said he envisions a revolution in AI hardware led by advancements in “neuromorphic hardware” – computers and hardware that model artificial neural networks.

“I think Korea may have a big role to play in this,” Hinton said, noting one of the world’s leading experts in this area is Sebastian Seung, Samsung’s president and head of research – who attended the Simcoe Hall event.

When asked to share his thoughts on how Canada achieved its leadership position in AI, Hinton cited three foundational factors: a tolerant, liberal society that encourages leading researchers to settle here; the federal government’s funding for curiosity-driven basic research; and CIFAR’s funding, in 2004, of the Neural Computation and Adaptive Perception program, which is credited with kickstarting the revolution in deep learning.

Following the discussion, event attendees, including U of T students, watched presentations on avenues for AI research and collaboration by representatives of five South Korean companies: LG, Samsung, Naver, KT (formerly Korea Telecom) and SK Telecom.

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Alex Mihailidis, U of T’s associate vice-president, international partnerships, then announced that U of T had signed a memorandum of understanding with IITP, based in Seoul, to launch a bi-national education program in AI.

“We expect that in the fall of 2023, we will be accepting 30 students from Korea who will be going through a custom-made program around AI and its applications,” Mihailidis said. “This is a groundbreaking program that we expect will not only flourish here in Toronto but will grow – hopefully across our two great countries and around the world.”

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Earlier, Mihailidis and President Gertler led President Yoon and Fedeli through four demonstrations showcasing some of the cutting-edge technologies being developed by U of T professors and their graduate students.

The technologies included: a wearable robotic exoskeleton for walking assistance and rehab demonstrated by Mihailidis and post-doctoral researcher Brokoslaw Laschowski; a sensory soft robotic hand for human-robot interaction demonstrated by Professor Xinyu Liu of the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, graduate student Zhanfeng Zhou and post-doctoral researcher Peng Pan; a multimodal perception system for autonomous vehicles showcased by Jiachen (Jason) Zhou, a graduate student in robotics and aerospace engineering; and a nanorobot for precision manipulation under electron microscope that was demonstrated by Yu Sun, professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering and director of the U of T Robotics Institute.

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Read a story about the visit in the Korea Times

Canada must boost support of science and tech: President Meric Gertler and Alan Bernstein in the Globe and Mail

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 20:01:29 +0000

Canada must boost support of science and tech: President Meric Gertler and Alan Bernstein in the Globe and Mail

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 09/08/2022 - 16:01

Cutline

(Photos by Lisa Sakulensky and courtesy of Alan Bernstein)

Topic

Climate Change

Meric Gertler

Canada must step up its support of R&D in science and technology if the country’s innovation economy is to remain competitive globally.

That was the key message of a Globe and Mail op-ed by ��߲ݴ�ý President Meric Gertler and Alan Bernstein, president and CEO of CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), who noted substantial recent investments by the U.S. government in the country’s AI, robotics, clean electricity and green energy sectors.

“The U.S. initiatives demand a commensurate response from Canada both in size and breadth. Otherwise, our economic performance will continue to lag behind other advanced economies,” Bernstein and President Gertler warn in the op-ed published Sept. 5.

Support in basic research must come from government, according to Bernstein and President Gertler, given the public interest in challenges ranging from vaccine development to clean energy and income inequality. Meanwhile, private sector investment in market-oriented R&D is vital because it “leverages the research of our universities and turns discovery into new products and new companies that create employment and prosperity.”

Bernstein and President Gertler note that government and private-sector leadership are equally essential to creating a robust innovation ecosystem. Case in point: CIFAR’s early support for the groundbreaking AI research of Geoffrey Hinton, University Professor Emeritus in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, led to the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy and helped establish Canada as a world leader in AI.

“Now we need to expand on what we’ve learned from AI as the basis for a comprehensive and ambitious research-and-innovation policy,” Bernstein and President Gertler write.

Read the op-ed in the Globe and Mail

If robots need to persuade humans, they shouldn't resemble authority figures: U of T study

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:01:43 +0000

If robots need to persuade humans, they shouldn't resemble authority figures: U of T study

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 09/24/2021 - 16:01

Cutline

U of T Engineering researchers found that Pepper, a humanoid robot, was less persuasive when it was presented to study participants as an authority figure than when it was presented as a peer-helper (photo by Liz Do)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Breaking Research

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Graduate Students

Robotics

Robots

In the future, socially interactive robots could help seniors age in place or assist residents of long-term care facilities with daily activities. But will people actually accept advice or instructions from a machine?

That depends on how the robot in question behaves, according to a ��߲ݴ�ý study.

“When robots present themselves as human-like social agents, we tend to play along with that sense of humanity and treat them much like we would a person,” says Shane Saunderson, a PhD candidate in the department of mechancial and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering who is lead author of a paper published recently in Science Robotics.

“But even simple tasks – like asking someone to take their medication – have a lot of social depth to them. If we want to put robots in those situations, we need to better understand the psychology of robot-human interactions.”

Saunderson says there’s no magic bullet when it comes to persuasion – even among humans. But one key concept is authority, which can be further divided into two types: formal authority and real authority.

“Formal authority comes from your role. If someone is your boss, your teacher or your parent, they have a certain amount of formal authority,” he explains. “Real authority has to do with the control of decisions – often for entities such as financial rewards or punishments.”

To simulate these concepts, Saunderson set up an experiment where a humanoid robot named Pepper was used to help 32 volunteer test subjects complete a series of simple tasks, such as memorizing and recalling items in a sequence.

For some participants, Pepper was presented as a formal authority figure: It took on the role of researcher and was the only “person” the subjects interacted with. For others, Saunderson was presented as the researcher, while Pepper helped the subjects complete the tasks.

Each participant ran through a set of three tasks twice. First, Pepper offered financial rewards for correct answers to simulate positive real authority. Next, Pepper offered financial penalties for incorrect answers, simulating negative real authority.

Generally, Pepper was less persuasive when it was presented as an authority figure than when it was presented as a peer-helper. Saunderson says the result might stem from a question of legitimacy.

“Social robots are not commonplace today, and in North America at least, people lack both relationships and a sense of shared identity with robots,” he says. “It might be hard for them to come to see them as a legitimate authority.”

Another possibility is that people might disobey an authoritative robot because they feel threatened by it. Saunderson notes that the aversion to being persuaded by a robot acting authoritatively seemed to be particularly strong among male participants, who have been shown in previous studies to be more defiant to authority figures than females and may perceive an authoritative robot as a threat to their status or autonomy.

“A robot’s social behaviours are critical to acceptance, use and trust in this type of distributive technology – by society as a whole,” says Goldie Nejat, a professor of mechanical engineering
who is Saunderson’s supervisor and the other co-author on the paper.

Nejat holds the Canada Research Chair in Robots for Society and is a member of U of T’s Robotics Institute. She and Saunderson conducted the work with support from AGE-WELL, a national network dedicated to the creation of technologies and services that benefit older adults and caregivers, as well as CIFAR.

“This ground-breaking research provides an understanding of how persuasive robots should be developed and deployed in everyday life, and how they should behave to help different demographics, including our vulnerable populations such as older adults,” she says.

Saunderson says the big take-away for designers of social robots is to position them as collaborative and peer-oriented, rather than dominant and authoritative.

“Our research suggests that robots face additional barriers to successful persuasion than the ones that humans face,” he says. “If they are to take on these new roles in our society, their designers will have to be mindful of that and find ways to create positive experiences through their behaviour.”

U of T Acceleration Consortium to use AI to develop advanced materials

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 20:16:47 +0000

U of T Acceleration Consortium to use AI to develop advanced materials

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 04/20/2021 - 16:16

Cutline

A collaboration between academia, industry and government, the Acceleration Consortium will draw on AI, robotics, engineering and chemistry to build “self-driving laboratories” capable of developing next-generation materials (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Chemistry

Creative Destruction Lab

Materials Science

The ��߲ݴ�ý is launching a new global consortium dedicated to using artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the design and discovery of advanced materials that could revolutionize a range of industries – from renewable energy and biomedicine to communication technology.

The Acceleration Consortium will draw on the power of AI, robotics, engineering and chemistry to create so-called “self-driving laboratories” that can help rapidly design next-generation materials crucial to making the technologies of the future more affordable and eco-friendly.

Led by Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, the consortium is a collaboration betwen academia, industry and government, and comprises top researchers from U of T and around the world.

“AI is changing the way we do science,” said Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium, Canada 150 Research Chair in Theoretical Chemistry and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

“The Acceleration Consortium’s self-driving laboratories will revolutionize advanced materials innovation by reducing the time and cost to develop new materials from an average of 20 years and $100 million to as little as one year and $1 million.”

The consortium – a partnership between U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation – will also work to establish an international network of academic institutions, technology companies and entrepreneurs to lead materials innovation and create a national training program to nurture the next generation of researchers.

Specific initiatives will include workshops, conferences, hackathons, post-doctoral fellowships, a master’s degree program and a laboratory facility to provide training and access to self-driving laboratories for all consortium members.

“Global issues require a global response,” said Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives. “U of T is proud to launch the Acceleration Consortium to drive materials innovation through collaboration between experts across the university and around the world, including government, industry and emerging companies, and our academic peers.”

The design of advanced materials with superior performance characteristics is seen as vital to driving a range of innovations including clean energy storage, development of sustainable packaging for consumer products, drug discovery, quantum computing and the creation of stronger, lightweight building materials – to name a few applications.

In helping invent these new materials, the consortium intends to play a leading role in addressing an array of challenges in health care, climate change and technology, and to establish U of T as a world leader in materials science innovation.

The Chemspeed materials acceleration platform (MAP) in the Aspuru-Guzik laboratory (photo by Johnny Guatto)

U of T experts involved in the consortium represent a range of disciplines. Christopher Yip, dean of U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, said the initiative “epitomizes knowledge transfer and collaboration across scholarly expertise.” Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, added the consortium is the latest manifestation of “a legacy of innovation and discovery that has changed the way we think about the world and respond to society’s most pressing social, economic and environmental questions.”

Current Acceleration Consortium partners include Chemspeed, the Vector Institute, CIFAR, Creative Destruction Lab, National Research Council of Canada and Natural Resources Canada, among others. The consortium involves more than 50 top researchers from U of T and around the world.

The Acceleration Consortium’s launch follows the Government of Canada’s move to provide nearly $59 million in investments to the National Research Council of Canada and Natural Resources Canada to support the creation of lab space for advanced materials and set up materials acceleration platforms in Mississauga and Hamilton, Ont.

“By creating these new materials, the Acceleration Consortium will help improve the lives of Canadians by addressing challenges in health, climate change, urbanization and economic development,” said Ed Clark, board chair at the Vector Institute and former president and CEO of TD Bank Group.

“The AC’s efforts will also directly support our country’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery by generating commercialization opportunities, onshoring manufacturing, increasing productivity, and even sparking the creation of companies and industries that do not yet exist.”

Four U of T computer science researchers named CIFAR AI Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 17:46:00 +0000

Four U of T computer science researchers named CIFAR AI Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 01/20/2021 - 12:46

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(photo by Daria Perevezentsev)

Matt Hintsa

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

University Health Network

Statistical Sciences

Four ��߲ݴ�ý computer scientists have been named CIFAR AI Chairs in recognition of their innovative artificial intelligence research in areas that benefit society.

Michael Brudno, David Duvenaud, Rahul G. Krishnan, and Richard Zemel of the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science conduct research with a wide impact, from streamlining workflows in clinical care settings to automating the design of chemicals.

Each is also a member of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, launched in 2017 through a partnership between U of T, federal and provincial governments and industry.

CIFAR AI Chairs are provided with five years of dedicated funding to support their research. The program is a cornerstone of the CIFAR Pan-Canadian AI Strategy to recruit the world’s leading AI researchers to Canada and retain existing talent.

“U of T is recognized as a home to pioneering AI research, both within Canada and globally. The announcement of four computer science faculty as new CIFAR AI Chairs reinforces this strength, and will propel societally important research to new heights,” says Marsha Chechik, professor and chair of the department of computer science.

The four computer scientists are the latest additions to a group of U of T researchers who have been named CIFAR AI Chairs since the inaugural cohort was announced in 2018.

“With today’s announcement, we have now attracted more than 100 of the world’s top AI researchers to Canada. That’s an important milestone for the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy as it continues to strengthen Canada’s leadership in responsible AI, reflecting our values of human rights, inclusion and diversity,” says François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry.

In all, CIFAR named 29 new AI Chairs across Canada. The researchers are based at one of three AI centres across the country: Amii in Edmonton, Mila in Montreal and the Vector Institute in Toronto.

U of T’s new CIFAR AI Chairs at a glance:

Michael Brudno is a professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. He is also the chief data scientist at University Health Network and the scientific director for HPC4Health, a private computing cloud for Ontario hospitals. His research focuses on improving the ways that computational methods are used to analyze medical data, with the goal of streamlining clinical workflows and enabling faster and better treatments.

David Duvenaud is an assistant professor in the departments of computer science and statistical sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Before joining U of T, he did post-doctoral research at Harvard University and received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on constructing deep probabilistic models to help predict, explain and design things.

Rahul G. Krishnan will be an assistant professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine in fall 2021. His research focuses on building novel machine learning algorithms to automate clinically meaningful problems, and to advance our understanding of human health. He recently completed his PhD at MIT and is currently spending a year as a senior researcher at Microsoft Research in New England.

Richard Zemel is a professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. He also serves as research director at the Vector Institute. His research contributions include foundational work on systems that learn useful representations of data without any supervision; methods for learning to rank and recommend items; and machine learning systems for automatic captioning and answering questions about images.

'An extraordinary legacy': Brenda Andrews lays a foundation for the future at U of T's Donnelly Centre

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 20:54:08 +0000

'An extraordinary legacy': Brenda Andrews lays a foundation for the future at U of T's Donnelly Centre

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 08/20/2020 - 16:54

Cutline

As the founding director of U of T's Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Brenda Andrews helped make the centre a global hub for multidisciplinary research and a training ground for future scientific leaders (photo by Mike Schertzberg)

Jovana Drinjakovic

Topic

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Alumni

Faculty of Medicine

Molecular Genetics