When Dan Lopresti and his colleagues talk about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) during their upcoming panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), be prepared to imagine a better world.
In this world, the full potential of AI is unleashed to benefit society: health care is personalized and accessible through a friendly robot companion; education is customized to offer individualized plans for retraining and skills-building; and, businesses, large and small, operate with previously unheard-of efficiency and provide a level of customer service that can only be dreamed of today.
“The question is what are we going to see over the next 10 or 20 years break loose as a result of the research, which is assuming the research gets done because of investments made,” says Lopresti, a professor of computer science and engineering. Lopresti is also the incoming vice chair of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council, which, along with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), spearheaded the creation of “A Twenty-Year Community Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Research in the U.S.”
Lopresti will participate in a panel with the authors of the Roadmap and leaders of the initiative that led to it, Yolanda Gil (University of Southern California and president of AAAI) and Bart Selman (Cornell University and president-Elect of AAAI), on Saturday, Feb. 15 from 8:00 am to 9:30 am at the AAAS annual meeting in Seattle.
The Roadmap lays out a case for the best use of resources to fulfill the promise of AI to benefit society. The 100-plus page report is introduced by an Executive Summary that argues that “Achieving the full potential of AI technologies poses research challenges that require a radical transformation of the AI research enterprise, facilitated by significant and sustained investment.”
The authors write that AI systems have the potential for transformative impact across all sectors of society and for substantial innovation and economic growth. They articulate AI benefits in several specific areas, noting it can: 1) boost health and quality of life; 2) provide lifelong education and training; 3) reinvent business innovation and competitiveness; 4) accelerate scientific discovery and technical innovation; 5) expand evidence-driven social opportunity and policy; and 6) transform national defense and security.
The report also recognizes the tremendous social change that will result, says Lopresti, and that this must be addressed as well. Ethics is also an important consideration across the board.
Read the full story in the Lehigh University News Center.
Story by Lori Friedman
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