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Artificial intelligence is already a part of everyday life. It helps us answer questions like “Is this email spam?” It identifies friends in online photographs, selects news stories based on our politics and helps us deposit checks via our phones — if all somewhat imperfectly, argues Kevin McElwee for the Office of the Dean for Research.
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| Photo: Daniel Hertzberg |
But these applications are just the beginning.
Through advances in computer science, researchers are creating new
capabilities that have the potential to improve our lives in ways we
have yet to imagine.
Princeton researchers are at the forefront of this
research, from the theoretical underpinnings to the new apps and devices
to the ethical considerations.
Attempts at building intelligent systems are as
old as computers themselves. Early efforts often involved directly
programming rules of behavior into a system. For example, researchers
might input the laws of motion to control a robotic arm. But the
resulting behaviors usually fell short.
With artificial intelligence, computers learn
from experience. Through “machine learning,” a subfield of artificial
intelligence, computers are programmed to make choices, learn from the
outcomes, and adjust to feedback from the environment.
Machine learning is transforming scholarship across campus, said Jennifer Rexford, Princeton’s Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor in Engineering and chair of the computer science department.
“Princeton has a very long tradition of strong
work in computer science and mathematics, and we have many departments
that are just top notch, combined with an emphasis on serving humanity,”
Rexford said. “You just don’t get that everywhere.”
