MIT faculty, alumni, students, and friends presented  interesting highlights from work across a wide range of topics addressing human and machine intelligence research, its applications, and its bearing on society. The event was scheduled as a grand launch for the MIT Intelligence Quest , a program whose vision is to advance the science and engineering of both human and machine intelligence.

The event was held at the Kresge Auditorium at MIT.  After a few opening remarks by Dean Anantha Chandrakasan,  a variety od special presentations followed. Leading lights in the field of Neuroscience, Brain and Cognition, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Medical Engineering, Financial Engineering amongst others highlighted the opportunities and challenges that exist in creating machines that can mimic a human’s learning ability. The program also highlighted the progress made in the field of artificial intelligence and the large number of applications of this field. 

From self driving cars to robots that can understand and respond to emotions AI has indeed made tremendous strides.  While a majority of presentations outlined research work, Prof Regina Barzilay outlined her work in Cancer research, which she started working on when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She talked about the importance doing deep learning that can allow early detection and cure for cancer. 

Companies are also partnering with MIT on this quest. IBM has created the  MIT-IBM Watson AI La that b is focused on fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research with the goal of propelling scientific breakthroughs that unlock the potential of AI. The Lab is focused on advancing four research pillars: AI Algorithms, the Physics of AI, the Application of AI to industries, and Advancing shared prosperity through AI.

AI is certainly the next frontier for the advancement of human ingenuity and it is wonderful to see MIT’s focus in this area.