The Advanced Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI², https://advancedinstitute.ai) was officially launched on February 26, 2019 at the kickoff workshop, held at the Center for Scientific Computing (NCC) at Unesp. The event was attended by researchers from several universities in the country and members of important partner companies that work in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
During the morning, researchers discussed the institute's legal structure and management, as well as its main objectives and the best way to achieve them. “In our understanding, AI² is a type of initiative that does not yet exist in Brazil,” said João Paulo Papa, professor at the Unesp Department of Computing, Bauru campus, who works with the application of AI techniques in the medical field to assistance in the diagnosis of cancer, as well as in the areas of petroleum engineering and occupational safety. “The institute will help to resolve obstacles that we often find in Brazil in the relationship between academia and industry,” added Papa.
Hélio Waldman, dean of the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) between 2010 and 2014, highlighted the importance of the workshop and the creation of AI² for Brazil to follow the global trend of technological development in the area. Many countries have State policies focused especially on artificial intelligence, while in Brazil discussions on the topic are still incipient.
“The meeting brought together researchers who are aware and concerned about creating an institute to contribute to Brazilian training in the area of AI and who recognize that we cannot be much further behind than we already are”, commented Waldman.
Nestor Caticha, a Physics researcher at USP, argued in the same direction. “Today we are on the verge of a revolution, analogous to the Industrial Revolution, which will have consequences that we are not yet aware of”, commented Caticha.
For him, Brazil can choose to stay out of this revolution or it can try to accompany it. “The AI² initiative aims to improve the dialogue between industry and academia so that our country is not left out of the group of civilized countries in this century”, added Caticha.
Academy and private initiative
During the afternoon, members of partner companies presented challenges in their areas of activity in the private sector that could be faced using AI techniques, with the aim of opening up possibilities for collaboration with researchers in the academic environment.
Experian DataLab, for example, was represented by Renato Vicente, Data Science director for Latin America. The company will be AI²'s first partner. This collaboration will take place through a project to detect fraud in electrical networks using advanced machine learning techniques and satellite image processing.
“The presentations by our partners in the private sector were of the highest quality”, said Sérgio Novaes, director of the Center for Scientific Computing at Unesp. “They presented problems of great relevance in several areas that are very promising for the establishment of partnerships in the context of AI²”.
Among the partner companies is Grupo Fleury, which was represented by Gustavo Meirelles, medical manager of Radiology, Strategy and Innovation and partner and CEO at Ambra Saúde, a cloud software company for managing medical data and images.
“The event was excellent, as we had the opportunity to meet other companies that will participate in the institute and, together, we will have the opportunity to fight for a common good for Brazil, which is the development of AI and solutions arising from the use of technology” , said Meirelles.
Jorge Augusto Mondadori, responsible for structuring the Artificial Intelligence hub of the FIEP System in Paraná, explored possibilities of association with AI² with regard to the training of AI specialists.
Mauro Zackiewicz, Innovation coordinator at the Paula Souza Center, also highlighted the need for mass training in this area.
For Henrique Sinatura, partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and leader of the BCG Gamma hub in Brazil, AI² will be able to leverage its network of professionals with experience in the subject and help bring the necessary expertise to its clients.
“We are active in the implementation of AI solutions in our customers' businesses,” said Sinatura. “The fields of AI and machine learning are broad, and as much as we have a global network of professionals, it is very important for us to be close to academia to have a more current, relevant and in-depth view on specific topics for which we are sought after. by our customers”.
Sérgio Siqueira, solutions architect at HPE, highlighted the importance of AI² in the sense that Brazil needs to generate and disseminate its own knowledge, and not just use knowledge imported from other countries that often do not adapt to our reality.
“HPE works very closely with the corporate market and I think it is fundamental, not only for HPE, but for all companies that work with the corporate market, to have initiatives like AI² that develop knowledge and innovations so that we can apply them within the Brazilian reality , according to the Brazilian market”, said Siqueira.
Nvidia and Huawei companies also had the opportunity to showcase the companies' global vision and strategy in AI and discuss the possibilities of collaboration with AI².
Non-profit
AI² will be non-profit and will value the transparency, inclusion and transversality of its actions. The institute, in addition to promoting the training of qualified personnel in the area, will promote discussions on the ethics of using artificial intelligence and its impact on society.
“We think we know what the effects of AI will be on society, but I believe there are many unpredictable implications,” said Esther Colombini, a researcher at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). “So we have to be ready for all these possible implications, be they social, ethical or economic. We cannot be taken by surprise.”
During the workshop, the researchers discussed governance and affiliation policies for the institute and legal issues related to the support foundation that will serve as an interface between the private sector and academia. These policies are being refined and will be put into effect in the coming weeks.
The expectation of AI² members is that there will be a large number of new adhesions to the institute, both from researchers and companies interested in making use of academic expertise.
During the morning, researchers discussed the institute's legal structure and management, as well as its main objectives and the best way to achieve them. “In our understanding, AI² is a type of initiative that does not yet exist in Brazil,” said João Paulo Papa, professor at the Unesp Department of Computing, Bauru campus, who works with the application of AI techniques in the medical field to assistance in the diagnosis of cancer, as well as in the areas of petroleum engineering and occupational safety. “The institute will help to resolve obstacles that we often find in Brazil in the relationship between academia and industry,” added Papa.
Hélio Waldman, dean of the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) between 2010 and 2014, highlighted the importance of the workshop and the creation of AI² for Brazil to follow the global trend of technological development in the area. Many countries have State policies focused especially on artificial intelligence, while in Brazil discussions on the topic are still incipient.
“The meeting brought together researchers who are aware and concerned about creating an institute to contribute to Brazilian training in the area of AI and who recognize that we cannot be much further behind than we already are”, commented Waldman.
Nestor Caticha, a Physics researcher at USP, argued in the same direction. “Today we are on the verge of a revolution, analogous to the Industrial Revolution, which will have consequences that we are not yet aware of”, commented Caticha.
For him, Brazil can choose to stay out of this revolution or it can try to accompany it. “The AI² initiative aims to improve the dialogue between industry and academia so that our country is not left out of the group of civilized countries in this century”, added Caticha.
Academy and private initiative
During the afternoon, members of partner companies presented challenges in their areas of activity in the private sector that could be faced using AI techniques, with the aim of opening up possibilities for collaboration with researchers in the academic environment.
Experian DataLab, for example, was represented by Renato Vicente, Data Science director for Latin America. The company will be AI²'s first partner. This collaboration will take place through a project to detect fraud in electrical networks using advanced machine learning techniques and satellite image processing.
“The presentations by our partners in the private sector were of the highest quality”, said Sérgio Novaes, director of the Center for Scientific Computing at Unesp. “They presented problems of great relevance in several areas that are very promising for the establishment of partnerships in the context of AI²”.
Among the partner companies is Grupo Fleury, which was represented by Gustavo Meirelles, medical manager of Radiology, Strategy and Innovation and partner and CEO at Ambra Saúde, a cloud software company for managing medical data and images.
“The event was excellent, as we had the opportunity to meet other companies that will participate in the institute and, together, we will have the opportunity to fight for a common good for Brazil, which is the development of AI and solutions arising from the use of technology” , said Meirelles.
Jorge Augusto Mondadori, responsible for structuring the Artificial Intelligence hub of the FIEP System in Paraná, explored possibilities of association with AI² with regard to the training of AI specialists.
Mauro Zackiewicz, Innovation coordinator at the Paula Souza Center, also highlighted the need for mass training in this area.
For Henrique Sinatura, partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and leader of the BCG Gamma hub in Brazil, AI² will be able to leverage its network of professionals with experience in the subject and help bring the necessary expertise to its clients.
“We are active in the implementation of AI solutions in our customers' businesses,” said Sinatura. “The fields of AI and machine learning are broad, and as much as we have a global network of professionals, it is very important for us to be close to academia to have a more current, relevant and in-depth view on specific topics for which we are sought after. by our customers”.
Sérgio Siqueira, solutions architect at HPE, highlighted the importance of AI² in the sense that Brazil needs to generate and disseminate its own knowledge, and not just use knowledge imported from other countries that often do not adapt to our reality.
“HPE works very closely with the corporate market and I think it is fundamental, not only for HPE, but for all companies that work with the corporate market, to have initiatives like AI² that develop knowledge and innovations so that we can apply them within the Brazilian reality , according to the Brazilian market”, said Siqueira.
Nvidia and Huawei companies also had the opportunity to showcase the companies' global vision and strategy in AI and discuss the possibilities of collaboration with AI².
Non-profit
AI² will be non-profit and will value the transparency, inclusion and transversality of its actions. The institute, in addition to promoting the training of qualified personnel in the area, will promote discussions on the ethics of using artificial intelligence and its impact on society.
“We think we know what the effects of AI will be on society, but I believe there are many unpredictable implications,” said Esther Colombini, a researcher at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). “So we have to be ready for all these possible implications, be they social, ethical or economic. We cannot be taken by surprise.”
During the workshop, the researchers discussed governance and affiliation policies for the institute and legal issues related to the support foundation that will serve as an interface between the private sector and academia. These policies are being refined and will be put into effect in the coming weeks.
The expectation of AI² members is that there will be a large number of new adhesions to the institute, both from researchers and companies interested in making use of academic expertise.
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