Project Description
International Symposium on Applications of Artificial Intelligence
Edmonton, Alberta
On September 27 and 28, 2018, the GCCIR hosted a two day symposium at the University of Alberta and invited international speakers, academic researchers, policy makers, company representatives and students to discuss the applications of Artificial Intelligence to a variety of different sectors and fields.
Panel discussion on AI & Precision Health with panelists (left to right) Dr. Russ Greiner (Professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta and Amii Researcher), Dr. Edwin Wang (Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary), and Dr. Jan Platoš (VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava). Not seen in the picture are the fourth panelist Dr. Radim Burget (Assoc. Professor at the Brno University of Technology) and moderator Dr. Daniel C. Baumgart (Professor and Director, Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Alberta). © photo by GCCIR
The symposium was organized in cooperation with the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Science and Future Energy Systems Initiative, the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), the Consulate General of France in Canada, the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Toronto, CzechInvest and the German-Center for Research and Innovation – New York, and included panel discussions on the relevance of artificial intelligence in the areas of Precision Health, Human and Machine Interaction, Policy, Precision Agriculture/AgriFoods, Transport, Future Energy Systems, and Humanities and Social Sciences.
Each of the panels included a short presentation delivered by the moderator to introduce the applications of artificial intelligence to their field and spark discussion among the panelists. As the content of the presentations and the individual questions were left to the discretion of the moderator, each presentation and ensuing discussion was quite different in nature. While most presentations highlighted the benefits of artificial intelligence to a given field, a few also reminded the audience members to critically reflect on the rapid technology advancements in the field of artificial intelligence and the risks these can entail if not governed effectively.
Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer giving his Keynote Address at the International Symposium on Applications of Artificial Intelligence. © photo by GCCIR
Dr. Michal Pěchouček provides an overview of the artificial intelligence landscape in the Czech Republic. © photo by GCCIR
Panel discussion on AI & Future Energy Systems with panelists (left to right) Darren McCrank (EPCOR), Dr. Omid Ardakanian (Asst. Professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta), Dr. Pavel Juruš (The Czech Academy of Sciences), Henning Wilms (E.ON Energy Research Center at RWTH Aachen University), and Joshua Wong (CEO of Opus One Solutions). The panel was moderated by Dr. Petr Musilek (Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta). © photo by GCCIR
It was no doubt a well-rounded conference and we, the GCCIR, could not have hoped for livelier discussions or a better audience and speakers.
Sources:
Mullins, Justin. “Checkers ‘Solved’ after Years of Number Crunching.” New Scientist, New Scientist, 19 July 2007, www.newscientist.com/article/dn12296-checkers-solved-after-years-of-number-crunching/.