A new AI-powered solutions network for predicting and preventing diabetes developed by SRI researchers Laura Rosella, Jennifer Gibson, and Shion Guha has received $900K in funding from CIFAR’s AI for Health Solution Networks grant program.

There are economic and political incentives for AI companies to create their own set of rules. Alyssa Wong explores the benefits and drawbacks of self-regulation in the tech industry, and highlights the ultimate need for democratic oversight to ensure accountability, transparency, and consideration of public interests.

At Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2023, Richard Sutton discussed the future of AI systems and whether they should always be aligned with human values. In a wide-ranging discussion with Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Gillian Hadfield, Sutton argued that it may be desirable—and even necessary—for us to one day grant autonomy to advanced AI agents.

Like an ouroboros—or snake eating its own tail—future AI models trained on the internet, where AI-generated content is expected to become ubiquitous, could end up devouring the problematic work of their predecessors.

The SRI Seminar Series provides a unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge research at the intersection of technology and society, and engage in discussions with the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s interdisciplinary community. The 2023–24 season kicks off September 20th with a talk by Aaron Hertzmann of Adobe Research.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of three distinguished University of Toronto faculty to its research leadership team. Beth Coleman, Kelly Lyons, and Anna Su will bring their expertise to help advance the Institute's mission of ensuring powerful technologies like AI are developed responsibly.

SRI Faculty Fellow William Cunningham and Joel Leibo of Google DeepMind presented their work on testing social cognitive theory using reinforcement learning at the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s conference Absolutely Interdisciplinary.

In collaboration with Deloitte, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society presented a distinguished speaker series highlighting contributions from six innovative female researchers working at the forefront of artificial intelligence across a wide range of specializations.

In a session at the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s annual academic conference, Richard Sutton (Amii) and Julia Haas (DeepMind) discussed the legacy of Sutton’s reward hypothesis and the interplay between rewards, decision-making, and moral cognition.

The next generation of state-of-the-art foundation models could have capabilities that severely threaten public safety and global security. In a new multi-author white paper, the authors discuss the challenges of regulating frontier AI models, explore the building blocks of a potential regulatory regime, and suggest some minimum safety standards.

We’re using AI assistants and large language models everywhere in our daily lives. But what constitutes this interaction between person and machine? SRI Graduate Affiliate Davide Gentile writes about the virtues and pitfalls of user experience, highlighting some ways in which the human-computer interaction could be made clearer, more efficient, more trustworthy, and overall a better experience—for everyone.

How can researchers from different fields develop shared ways of understanding the potential impacts of artificial intelligence? At the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s annual conference, participants engaged in unique conversations regarding what AI can teach us about social systems, cognition, education, creativity, and more.