ABOUT THE EVENT
Monday, October 2, 2017
5:45 PM to 9:00 PM
at Microsoft 11 Times Square, 6th floor, corner of 41st & 8th Ave., New York, NY
5:45 PM: Networking
6:45 to 8:30: Panel and Group Discussion
8:30 to 9:00: Special fireside chat with Aebis AI experts in Content & Tacit Intelligence
There will be food, wine, pizza, Hint Water, gourmet sandwiches, and cookies. Panelists will include experts from IBM, Microsoft, Loup Ventures, Chef Watson, and more.
Automation / Artificial Intelligence is becoming omnipresent in business and our daily lives. Technology now allows us to talk to our devices, detect trends in huge data sets, and let our cars drive for us. At the same time, we are increasingly aware that the slightest human assumption or foible remains beyond the reach of even the most advanced AI system.
The example cited in the title, which will also be presented at the event, comes from Chef Watson, an expert system for culinary arts that has been able to “create” innovative recipes. But when the users noticed that recipes including bananas didn’t turn out properly, the developers were surprised to discover that they had neglected to inform the system that bananas are usually used without the peel. Hence the need to focus on AI content in addition to technology.
The unexpected trap for successful AI implementation is that most “banana peels” (assumptions, conventions, even biases) are not obvious. (Our event sponsor, Aebis Inc, has proven methods to uncover this “tacit knowledge”.) By focusing on content, your AI implementation can avoid slipping on hidden banana peels! (Sorry 🙂 )
Some ideas we will discuss on the topic of AI:
Artificial Intelligence is on the verge of pervading all aspects of business and our daily lives. At the moment, most efforts seem to be focused on digital assistants and the “low hanging fruit” such as replacing cumbersome text interfaces with Natural Language Processing interaction, performing pattern recognition in huge data sets, or automating repetitive or highly regulated processes requiring low human intelligence (even driverless cars fall into this category).
Clarifying and narrowing the scope of the domain of a digital assistant: What makes a human expert so powerful are the “distinctions” that they apply in complex situations, often subconsciously. By eliciting and capturing these distinctions in a usable form for others, including those who will be programming the automation algorithms, we provide explicit knowledge boundaries and related human points of view. In addition, certain traps need to be avoided when automating, including two extremes:
1. Cognitive biases/prejudices that can creep into the algorithms: These are “false distinctions”, i.e. divisions /categorizations being made where none actually (or no longer) exist;
2. Lack of sophistication in automated rules: When an underlying distinction goes undetected and therefore is not implemented when it ought to be.
Aebis promotes the functional exception handling, consistency, and completeness techniques within algorithms for verifying on the spot the knowledge domain boundaries.
MEET THE PANELISTS
Bruce Weed | Developer Advocate for the East Coast, IBM Bruce Weed is the City Leader/Developer Advocate (New York) for IBM’s Digital Business Group. Bruce covers the Eastern part of the U.S. with a main focus in NYC. Bruce engages directly around latest technologies with partners and customers alike, his expertise is around Watson/AI, IoT, Blockchain, Cloud and Bots, Digital Assistants and Big Data.
He runs LinkedIn groups with over 50K+ members on IBM Watson & IoT, IBM Big Data and Analytics, and Blockchain for Business; these groups look at both use cases and technology trends. Bruce also runs the IBM Watson – Cognitive Business & IoT Meetup in NYC with over 1600 members. He is a Watson/IoT, Blockchain and Big Data evangelist.
Heather Shapiro, Microsoft AI Expert. Heather Shapiro is a Technical Evangelist in Microsoft’s Developer Experience group, where she educates developers on Microsoft’s new technologies. In this role, she works closely with students and developer communities across the North East to understand the newest technologies and architectures.
Prior to becoming a Technical Evangelist, she received her Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and completed an Honors Thesis about employing Bayesian Approaches to Understanding Music Popularity. Heather blogs at http://microheather.com.
Doug Clinton, Managing Partner, Loup Ventures, is an early stage venture fund investing in AI, robotics, augmented reality and virtual reality. 4. Reah Miyara Product Manager, Industry Applications, IBM Watson
Oliver Christie, Artificial Intelligence StrategistArtificial Intelligence consultant who helps companies envision their future and leverage this technology to stay ahead of the competition. Google Moonshot Winner, IBM Watson Prize Winner, and named 1 of 10 Influencers Driving AI in Business by CBR. Currently designing an AI-powered Bank, Airline, and Medical Research facility. Co-founder of two AI startups for insurance and recruitment.
James Wang, Research Analyst, ARK Web X.0 ETF James is an internet analyst at ARK Invest where he specializes in artificial intelligence and microprocessors. He is the author of the 2017 white paper “Deep Learning — An Artificial Intelligence Revolution” and numerous think pieces on AI and GPUs. James spent nine years at NVIDIA where he led GPU technical marketing. He has written about the technology and gaming industry since 2000 and was an early proponent of using GPUs for general computing.
Moderator: Kevin Pianko | Partner of BDO USA, LLP performs audits of public and private companies and assists them with the financial and operational aspects of their business. Kevin has industry expertise in life sciences, private equity activities, SEC/public companies, tech, manufacturing, professional services, and financial services. He is also a regular on Bloomberg Radio and NBC.
Host: David Franklin, CTO of B&L ManagementDavid is our Technologist, Tech Geek, and Entrepreneur!5-Minutes of Stand-up Comedy by Shaun Eli, Comedian & Executive Director of The Ivy League of Comedy
Chris Mahon, Outer Places. Outer Places Will Be Live Streaming on Facebook Throughout the Event
