Our weekly SRI Seminar Series welcomes Milind Tambe, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and director of the Center for Research in Computation and Society at Harvard University, and principal scientist and director of AI for Social Good at Google Research. Tambe’s research focuses on advancing AI and multiagent systems for public health, conservation and public safety, with a track record of building pioneering AI systems for social impact.
In this talk, Tambe will discuss how to apply AI and multiagent systems to address complex societal problems, with a focus on supporting public health and conservation initiatives. Highlighting new advances in research and methodology, Tambe will demonstrate how advanced AI systems are being leveraged by communities and non-profits around the globe for social good.
Talk title:
“AI for social impact: Results from deployments for public health and conservation”
Abstract:
With the maturing of AI and multiagent systems research, we have a tremendous opportunity to direct these advances towards addressing complex societal problems. I will focus on domains of public health and conservation, and address one key cross-cutting challenge: how to effectively deploy our limited intervention resources in these problem domains. I will present results from work around the globe in using AI for challenges in public health such as maternal and child care interventions, HIV prevention, and in conservation such as endangered wildlife protection. Achieving social impact in these domains often requires methodological advances. To that end, I will highlight key research advances in multiagent reasoning and learning, in particular in, restless multiarmed bandits, influence maximization in social networks, computational game theory and decision-focused learning. In pushing this research agenda, our ultimate goal is to facilitate local communities and non-profits to directly benefit from advances in AI tools and techniques.
About Milind Tambe
Milind Tambe is Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and director of the Center for Research in Computation and Society at Harvard University, and principal scientist and director of AI for Social Good at Google Research. Tambe’s research focuses on advancing AI and multiagent systems for public health, conservation and public safety, with a track record of building pioneering AI systems for social impact. He is recipient of the IJCAI John McCarthy Award, AAMAS ACM Autonomous Agents Research Award, AAAI Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Lecture Award, and is a fellow of AAAI and ACM. He is also a recipient of the INFORMS Wagner prize for excellence in Operations Research practice and Rist Prize from MORS (Military Operations Research Society). For his work on AI and public safety, Tambe has received Columbus Fellowship Foundation Homeland security award and commendations and certificates of appreciation from the US Coast Guard, the Federal Air Marshals Service and airport police at the city of Los Angeles.
About the SRI Seminar Series
The SRI Seminar Series brings together the Schwartz Reisman community and beyond for a robust exchange of ideas that advance scholarship at the intersection of technology and society. Seminars are led by a leading or emerging scholar and feature extensive discussion.
Each week, a featured speaker will present for 45 minutes, followed by an open discussion. Registered attendees will be emailed a Zoom link before the event begins. The event will be recorded and posted online.
Milind Tambe