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Sam Pottinger spent years turning the latest advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning into models and dashboards that supported decision-making at Silicon Valley technology companies. At UC Berkeley, he's building those kinds of tools to turn quality environmental science into accessible, actionable information. That's the idea behind the new Global Plastic Policy Tool, an open-source, interactive model where users can explore regionalized data about...

Over the past decade, AI has permeated nearly every corner of science: Machine learning models have been used to predict protein structures, estimate the fraction of the Amazon rainforest that has been lost to deforestation and even classify faraway galaxies that might be home to exoplanets. But while AI can be used to speed scientific discovery — helping researchers make predictions about phenomena that may...

Catherine Cronquist Browning has been named assistant dean of educational programs and new initiatives at UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS). She started Nov. 1 in the newly created role, drawing on 18 years of relevant experience at Berkeley. “I’ve been a lecturer, a graduate student and a staff member on campus. I’ve been in a central campus unit, a graduate...

Want to make artificial intelligence systems safe? Design robots to continually ask and learn what humans want, a UC Berkeley expert said during a recent lecture. These robots would defer to humans, looking for and acting on people’s feedback, described Anca Dragan. To succeed in developing safe systems, we must better emulate how humans behave, consider how different people’s values intersect in AI and assess...

The University of California, Berkeley, is teaming up with NASA's Ames Research Center and developer SKS Partners to create research space for companies interested in collaborating with UC Berkeley and NASA scientists and engineers to generate futuristic innovations in aviation, space exploration and how we live and work in space. The Berkeley Space Center, announced today (Monday, Oct. 16), aims to accommodate up to 1.4...

Thao Thompson has recently been appointed chief administrative officer and assistant dean for administration at UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS). She started in the role on Oct. 9. Thompson will lead CDSS administration by providing guidance and decision-making on behalf of the college in matters related to strategic planning, policy development, resources, and organizational and program development.

Artificial intelligence tools present many risks for society. But this technology also presents opportunities, like improving medical treatment for victims of intimate partner violence. Ten million people are physically abused each year by a domestic partner, and 20,000 calls are placed every day to related hotlines, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we spoke to a researcher who...

Leaders from academia, government and industry met last week to discuss how AI will change the in-demand skill sets of tomorrow. Experts at The Future of Skills in the AI Era inaugural symposium on Sept. 22 also spoke about preparing society to fill those needs and developing ethical guidelines for human-compatible technologies. Participants included California Secretary of Government Operations Amy Tong, California Privacy Protection Agency...

Welcome to Stat 20, an introductory probability and statistics course and one of the few “flipped” classes at UC Berkeley. Students are introduced to new concepts through their homework and tackle practice problems during “lecture” sections. The format aims to improve comprehension, connection and attendance. A flipped classroom approach isn’t new, with decades’ worth of research proving its effectiveness. But classes like Stat 20 put...

Microsoft’s prime unifying scientist has a message: “Artificial intelligence” does not exist. At a Sept. 13 lecture at UC Berkeley, Jaron Lanier urged the audience to look past what they learned from science fiction as children and stop treating AI systems as entities. Instead, they should talk about the tools as social collaborations trained on materials by people. “It doesn’t matter technically,” Lanier said. But...