News

U-M uses new AI surgical tool to detect brain cancer in 10 seconds

Profs. Honglak Lee and Todd Hollon have developed a new technique that leverages the latest AI models to detect brain cancer during surgery in record time.

U-M study finds medical AI may misdiagnose patients of color

WEMU reports on work by Prof. Jenna Wiens which indicates evidence for AI models having a racial medical bias that could lead to misdiagnosis.

What Does That Bark Mean?

This article highlights work done by Prof. Rada Mihalcea and her students in developing AI tools that can identify whether a dog’s bark conveys playfulness or aggression. The same models can also glean other information from animal vocalizations, such as the animal’s age, breed and sex.

As AI takes the helm of decision making, signs of perpetuating historic biases emerge

Lynn A. Conway Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Michael Wellman is quoted in this article as he comments on some of the issues at play in a recent study by researchers at Lehigh University on the subject of how chatbots make loan suggestions for mortgage applications, and the potential for bias in these systems.

University of Michigan becomes first college to create AI tools for campus, students

Prof. David Jurgens is quoted in this article about U-M’s leadership in creating its own artificial intelligence tools.

Twitter Updated Its AI Chatbot. The Images Are A Dumpster Fire

Prof. Nikola Banovic is quoted in this Rolling Stone article about X/Twitter’s newly updated AI chatbot and its potential for spreading misinformation.

Artificial intelligence scientists developing tools to decode what your dog’s barks mean

Prof. Rada Mihalcea is quoted in this article discussing her team’s recent research on harnessing AI models to interpret dog vocalizations.

AI to interpret meaning of dog barks. University of Michigan professor explains.

Prof. Rada Mihalcea is interviewed in this telecast discussing her team’s research on the use of AI models to interpret dog vocalizations.

WWDC 2024: How Apple’s rollout of AI will matter more than what those features actually are

Prof. Benjamin Kuipers is quoted in this article discussing Apple’s AI strategy in the lead-up to its 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Scientists enlist AI to interpret meaning of barks

Prof. Rada Mihalcea’s recent research explores the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand what a dog’s bark conveys, including whether it is feeling playful or angry.

What are scientists teaching AI?

Prof. Maggie Makar is featured in the Summer 2024 issue of NewScience, the magazine of the Saint Louis Science Center, discussing her work on causal reasoning in AI systems and the future of AI research in general.

The Rise Of AI: Key Data Issues To Watch

Prof. Michael Wellman is mentioned in this article on the the role of data in the age of AI. Wellman is mentioned in connection with the issue of data access and the concentration of large bodies of data.

How Michigan universities are at the forefront of advancing AI technology

Prof. Michał Dereziński is interviewed in this feature on Michigan universities’s leading role in AI education and development.

Here’s what we learned during a demo ride in a May Mobility AV

Tech Brew joins Prof. Edwin Olson, CEO and founder of autonomous vehicle company May Mobility, for a recent demo ride from May’s production facility in Ann Arbor to downtown and back.

5 Local Women in STEM Share Experiences and Advice

This article features a discussion with Janice M. Jenkins Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Rada Mihalcea about how her interest developed in STEM, and her advice for others thinking of entering the field.

AI Regulation and the finance Industry

In this episode of Trading Tomorrow – Navigating Trends in Capital Markets, Host James Jockle of Numerix is joined by Professor Michael Wellman, currently one of the most influential voices on AI regulation and Division Chair of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Scientists with East Asian and African names get short shrift in news coverage

Prof. David Jurgens is a co-author of the paper described in this article on the disparities that exist for being mentioned in the media.

Meet the women doing groundbreaking AI research at U-M

This news segment highlights four female CSE faculty – Elizabeth Bondi-Kelly, Sindhu Kutty, Rada Mihalcea, and Lu Wang – who are working to change the fields of AI and computer science so that more women, and people of all backgrounds, can participate and lead – a necessity if this powerful technology is to serve all people.

Blind Spots, Shortcuts, and Automation Bias—Researchers Are Aiming to Improve AI Clinical Models

JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo interviews Prof. Jenna Wiens about avoiding blind spots and ensuring accuracy during AI-human collaboration, particularly in medical clinical settings.

Everything to Know About OpenAI’s New Text-to-Video Generator, Sora

Prof. Jeong Joon Park is quoted in this article discussing the surprisingly rapid development, and potential risks, of OpenAI’s new video generation platform, Sora.

Finding and Lifting Up Diamonds in the Rough: Shaping the Next Generation of AI Researchers

In this post, Prof. Rada Mihalcea describes how she identifies students with the potential to become successful PhD students in AI but who may not have had the opportunity to be in the environment to be show early signs of success.

AI expert warns of algo-based market manipulation

This article describes research performed by Prof. Michael Wellman and his students at the intersection of artificial intelligence and finance, and quotes Prof. Wellman on how recent technology advances in machine learning have raised the prospects for supercharged market manipulation.

Behind the wheel of Detroit’s new self-driving shuttle program

Prof. Edwin Olson is quoted in this article discussing the Detroit Automated Driving System, a new self-driving shuttle program this year to be launched by Olson’s company May Mobility this year.

How May Mobility went fully driverless while avoiding the pitfalls of robotaxis

Prof. Edwin Olson is quoted in this feature on May Mobility and the launch of its “rider only” driverless vehicle service in Arizona.

MIDAS, Michigan AI Lab host interactive generative AI workshop

The AI Lab has hosted a workshop on generative AI on campus in conjunction with the the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS). Shane Storks, a graduste student research assistant in CSE, made opening remarks and led the workshop.

AI in society: Perspectives from the field

Experts working in artificial intelligence discuss the recent turning point in AI and what it means for the future. This story and its accompanying videos feature comments from CSE faculty Nikola Banovic, Joyce Chai, Maggie Makar, Rada Mihalcea, and Michael Wellman.

Automated shuttle planned for Detroit is testing at Mcity

Researchers at U-M are testing an automated shuttle vehicle that will soon provide free transportation for seniors and persons with disabilities in the city of Detroit. May Mobility, started by Prof. Edwin Olson in 2018, is providing the shuttle and participating in the testing.

UM expert testifies on the dangers of AI in banking

An interview with CSE Chair Michael Wellman on the potential risks posed by AI use in the financial sector and a discussion of his recent testimony to the U.S. Senate on this topic.

U-M gets $17.5M for outbreak response network at SPH

CSE faculty Rada Mihalcea, Jenna Wiens, and Alex Rodríguez are part of U-M’s newly launched Michigan Public Health Integrated Center for Outbreak Analytics and Modeling, or MICOM, which will receive a $17.5 million grant over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be part of a national network of centers focused on predicting and responding to future disease outbreaks.

MIDAS gets $2.3M to develop national training program

H.V. Jagadish, the Edgar F. Codd Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Bernard A. Galler Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and director of MIDAS is quoted on MIDAS’s goal of effecting institutional transformation by enabling and sharing training materials.

Experts discuss FTC investigation of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI (video)

Prof. Lu Wang appears in this CBS Detroit news segment and comments on whether it’s harmful to consumers when chat provides false information.

MIDAS hosts forum on ethics in artificial intelligence

Jenna Wiens is noted as the keynote speaker for this event, and presented on the potential dangers of AI bias in health care settings.

U-M artificial intelligence experts share ChatGPT lessons with Ann Arbor public

This article highlights an upcoming event at which participants from the AI Lab will discuss ChatGPT with the Ann Arbor public.

Your Next Fitness Coach Could Be a Robot

Professor Nikola Banovic is quoted on how AI-based fitness programs fail to replicate the social interactions that make training effective.

DeepMind AI topples experts at complex game Stratego

Quoted in this article, Prof. Michael Wellman comments on the ability of recent AIs to master complex strategy games, such as Stratego and Diplomacy, and the need to move beyond recreational games to measure scientific progress on real-world challenges.

University of Michigan to Ramp Up AI Research Over Next 6 Years

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will recruit and train 60 postdoctoral fellows over the next six years as part of a new global partnership that aims to accelerate the next scientific revolution by applying artificial intelligence to research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

AMAISE: a machine learning approach to index-free sequence enrichment

CSE PhD student Meera Krishnamoorthy has published a paper in Communications Biology on a new ML-based approach for genomic sequence enrichment. Krishnamoorthy is advised by Prof. Jenna Wiens.

Perceptron: Risky teleoperation, Rocket League simulation and zoologist multiplication

TechCrunch’s Perceptron has highlighted work by CSE graduate student Divya Ramesh and Vaishnav Kameswaran in the School of Information. They and their co-authors explored “financially stressed” peoples’ relationships with AI-powered systems in countries with weak legislation and argue that their findings illustrate the need for greater “algorithmic accountability.”

AI models in health care are not colour blind and we should not be either

Prof. Jenna Wiens comments on a finding that AI systems can be trained to determine a person’s self-reported race based on a medical image.

LG opens AI research center in Michigan

This story reports on the opening of the LG AI Research Center, and its partnership with U-M, represents a commitment by LG to become a leader in developing advanced AI technologies.

Unicorn-Bound

May Mobility has become one of Ann Arbor’s most promising near-unicorns, following its recent $86M funding round.

Toyota AV-Shuttle Bet May Mobility Raises $83 Million

May Mobility, the self-driving shuttle startup co-founded by Prof. Edwin Olson, has raised $83 million in its largest funding round to date. May will use the money to advance its self-driving software to the point that it can remove human safety drivers from shuttles and replace them with remote supervisors who can monitor several vehicles at once.

May Mobility to launch AV shuttle in Ann Arbor

May Mobility, the autonomous transportation company co-founded by Prof. Edwin Olson, is launching a free autonomous vehicle shuttle service in Ann Arbor beginning Oct. 11. The company also has autonomous shuttles operating in Grand Rapids; Arlington, Texas; Hiroshima, Japan; and Indianapolis.

$2M ‘robot assistants’ project aims to reinvent construction industry

A $2 million NSF-funded project aims to enable robots to learn from human partners on construction sites, with contributions from co-PI Prof. Joyce Chai and Prof. Honglak Lee.

‘Move fast and break things’ won’t work for autonomous vehicles

The rush to deploy autonomous road vehicles in the United States is understandable, but it must be tempered by safety considerations. CSE Prof. John Meyer and ECE Prof. Carl Landwehr write for The Hill.

Free ‘A2GO’ autonomous shuttle service coming to Ann Arbor this fall

May Mobility, co-founded by Prof. Edwin Olson, along with U-M’s Mcity and Ann Arbor SPARK announced the launch of a free autonomous vehicle shuttle service that will begin operating in downtown Ann Arbor this October.

Examining the intersection of natural language processing and social sciences

Prof. Rada Mihalcea joins this episode of Michigan Minds to explain her research in natural language processing, a subfield of artificial intelligence‚ and what she feels are the best ways to encourage more women and girls to pursue work in STEM-related fields.

Solving for Equity

Profs. Jessy Grizzle and Chad Jenkins, the director and associate director of the Robotics Institute, are developing a robotics engineering degree that launches freshmen with computational linear algebra in a projects-based course. Their goal is to increase student access, engagement, and success along with overall equity.

Can We Make Our Robots Less Biased Than We Are?

A.I. developers are committing to end the injustices in how their technology is often made and used. Prof. Chad Jenkins is one of the researchers featured in this article.

PROGRESS Out of the Blue

Prof. Chad Jenkins was interviewed on the AI with AI podcast, discussing everything from movement primitives to AI research culture.

Covid-19 Is Dividing the American Worker

Prof. Chad Jenkins talks with Wall Street Journal about the looming effects of automation in the midst of this pandemic.

Before we put $100 billion into AI…

An op-ed on developing artificial intelligence to serve the common good by Chad Jenkins.

How To Create An AI (Artificial Intelligence) Model

Prof. Jason Corso describes some key considerations that go into the design of a new AI model.

MIT Alumni Profile: Edwin Olson ’00, MEng ’01, PhD ’08

Profile of Prof. Edwin Olson from his alma mater MIT. Olson is the founder of May Mobility, the Michigan-based startup that operates a fleet of low-speed autonomous electric vehicles in different cities around the country.

A Q&A with David Fouhey

Prof. David Fouhey is interviewed about his experiences as an Assistant Professor in CVPR Daily, which is published in conjunction with the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference.

Game Playing meets Game Theory with Professor Michael Wellman

Lynn A. Conway Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Michael Wellman is interviewed on the progress AI is making due to combining deep reinforcement learning with game-theoretic modeling.

5 Women You Should Know Working in AI

Rada Mihalcea, the Janice M. Jenkins Collegiate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the U-M AI Lab, is featured for her work in computational sociolinguistics.

University professors discuss artificial intelligence’s influence on the financial world

Professors Michael Wellman and Rada Mihalcea discuss the role of artificial intelligence in finance as part of the Friday Night AI series at the Ann Arbor Downtown Library.

ROBOTS: Time to think about laws?

Prof. Ben Kuipers discusses a world where robots become more important to our everyday lives.

Toyota leads $50 million investment in autonomous shuttle startup May Mobility

The company was co-founded by Prof. Ed Olson, and specializes in autonomous shuttles.

Jana Pavlasek – PhD Student in Robotics

PhD student in Prof. Chad Jenkins’ lab is profiled.

University Professors talk using AI technology for bipolar disorder

Two professors involved in the intersection of artificial intelligence and mental health shared their work Friday evening at the Ann Arbor District Library in partnership with the University of Michigan’s AI Laboratory.

Interspeech 2019 — Machine Learning-enabled Creativity and Innovation In Speech Tech

Coverage of Interspeech 2019, including Prof. Emily Mower Provost’s research on automatically detecting suicidal ideation from natural phone conversations.