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ELIAS Consortium held a successful 3rd project meeting in Amsterdam

ELIAS Consortium held a successful 3rd project meeting in Amsterdam

Mar 27, 2024 | News, Press Release

Amsterdam, Netherlands – March 20-21, 2024

The ELIAS Consortium achieved a significant milestone as it convened for its 3rd project meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Hosted by the University of Amsterdam, this gathering brought together project partners from various institutions to collaborate and drive forward initiatives shaping the future landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) with a special focus on sustainability.

Over the course of two days, the ELIAS Consortium engaged in impactful discussions and innovative deliberations, exploring key topics that ranged from advancing AI-driven design for sustainable systems to ensuring the trustworthiness and transparency of AI applications.

Among the highlights of the meeting were dynamic conversations focused on minimising energy consumption, fostering inclusive economic growth and democracy protection, and establishing robust frameworks for the ethical implementation of AI. These discussions underscored the collective commitment of the ELIAS Consortium to advancing the frontiers of AI research and fostering scientific excellence in Europe, with a strong emphasis on its potential for positive societal impact.

Prof. Dr Nicu Sebe, the Coordinator of the ELIAS project, remarked, “The 3rd project meeting of the ELIAS Consortium has been a resounding success, with vibrant exchanges of ideas and fruitful collaborations among our esteemed partners. We are excited about the innovative outcomes that have emerged from this assembly and look forward to further advancing our shared goals in the field of AI research for sustainability.

Yann Lecun (Meta)
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The ELIAS Consortium expresses its gratitude to the University of Amsterdam for hosting this pivotal gathering and extends appreciation to all participants for their valuable contributions.

For more information about the ELIAS Consortium and its initiatives, please visit http://www.elias-ai.eu/

Press Release: ELIAS 3rd Project Meeting – 27/03/2024

AAAI Bridge Programme: Collaborative AI and Modelling of Humans

AAAI Bridge Programme: Collaborative AI and Modelling of Humans

Mar 15, 2024 | Events, News

Image source: Freepik

Vancouver, BC, Canada – 21 February, 2024

On February 21, 2024, the AAAI Bridge Program convened at the Vancouver Convention Centre to explore the intersection of AI and human modelling in an initiative aimed at fostering collaboration between artificial intelligence (AI) systems and human users. This workshop, aptly named the AAAI Bridge Programme: Collaborative AI and Modelling of Humans (CAIHu), drew together leading experts and researchers from diverse disciplines to address one of the most pressing questions in AI today: How can humans and AI systems effectively collaborate to tackle complex real-world problems?

The programme, organised in coordination with the ELLIS Robust Machine Learning and Human-centric Machine Learning Research Programmes, received substantial support from various entities, including the EU H2020-funded ELISE project and the CIFAR Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. ELIAS, in collaboration with its partners Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI, Aalto University, ELLIS Alicante, University of Manchester, as well as ELLIS Unit Helsinki, Delft University of Technology, University of Alberta,  Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and UK Research and Innovation, played an important role in supporting and organising this significant workshop.

“We need collaborative AI tools to solve tough problems, and these tools work better when they incorporate data and knowledge about humans,” emphasised professor Samuel Kaski, Director of FCAI and Professor at Aalto University.

The workshop featured keynote addresses from prominent figures such as Microsoft’s Chief Scientific Officer, Eric Horvitz, who underscored the critical need for interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing AI research.

Reflecting on the success of the programme, co-organiser Sammie Katt, a postdoctoral fellow at FCAI, emphasised the value of bringing together diverse communities to exchange ideas and perspective and the significance of bridging the gap between disparate research domains.

The programme also included informative sessions, including a tutorial on user modelling for cooperative AI, led by Samuel Kaski and doctoral researcher Sebastiaan de Peuter. The tutorial delved into the intricacies of collaborative AI and the imperative of improving user modelling to enhance human-AI interactions.

One notable aspect of the tutorial was the exploration of preference learning, which seeks to infer underlying objective functions from user preferences. Kaski and de Peuter showcased the potential of leveraging insights from cognitive science to refine user modelling techniques, ultimately leading to more accurate inferences and better recommendations.

With nearly 400 registrations and enthusiastic participation from the AI research community, the CAIHu Bridge Program marked a significant step forward in fostering collaborative research initiatives aimed at harnessing the full potential of AI-human collaboration.

As the programme concluded on a high note, discussions turned towards the possibility of future recurring events, indicating the continued momentum towards advancing collaborative AI research and modelling of human behaviour.

Read here the orginal article: Bridge program at AAAI focused on collaborative AI and modelling of humans

More information on the programme and panels can be found here: Collaborative AI and Modeling of Humans (CAIHu 2024)

 

 

Joint ELISE-ELIAS Flagship Workshop: Setting out for AI innovation in Europe

Joint ELISE-ELIAS Flagship Workshop: Setting out for AI innovation in Europe

Mar 14, 2024 | ELIAS Alliance, Events, News

Joint ELISE-ELIAS Flagship Workshop: Setting out for AI innovation in Europe

The Joint ELISE-ELIAS Flagship Workshop, held on February 7-8, 2024, in Frankfurt, Germany, served as a crucial platform for discussing the future of open-source foundation models and sciencepreneurship in Europe. It brought together leading academic researchers and  industry experts to agree on a roadmap with tangible actions to build the ELIAS Innovation Alliance (EIA). A key objective of the pan-European alliance is  to boost academic education and to join forces on the development of open source foundation models and startups. The workshop was co-rganised with ELISE – European Network of AI Excellence Centres, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951847. Both AI Excellence Networks, ELISE and ELIAS, are closely related to the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) and committed to driving innovation and excellence in the European AI landscape.

The Future of Open-Source Foundation Models

The pursuit of enhanced generalisation capabilities in machine learning has fuelled a trend towards homogenisation and convergence, with a growing reliance on a few foundational AI systems for a broad array of applications. The first part of the workshop focused on identifying opportunities and approaches for Europe and Academia to play a significant role in shaping the Future of Open-Source Foundation Models.,

Various  speakers, including Yann LeCun from Meta, Katharina Frey from the Swiss Foreign Ministry presenting the ICAIN initiative, Laura Morselli from CINECA & EuroHPC, Jenia Jitsev from LAION, Ce Zhang from Together AI, Samuel Weinbach from IPAI Aleph Alpha, and Daniel Naeff from ETH presenting Swiss AI provided diverse perspectives on leveraging open-source models to foster innovation.

Yann Lecun (Meta)
Yann Lecun (Meta)
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Katharina Frey (Swiss Foreign Ministry, ICAIN) 
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Jenia Jitsev (LAION, Jülich Supercomputing Center)

Discussions during the sessions spanned various themes from practical applications to the ethical implications of AI advancements and how to  define effective roles for  academia and industry to foster positive innovation for society.

Matthias Bethge, Director of the Tübingen AI Center, ELLIS Fellow, and main organiser of the workshop, highlights: (INSERT QUOTE >> ideally, give some concrete examples summarising the outcomes of the talks)

Building AI: Exploring a new role for Academia

The focus then shifted towards exploring avenues for reinventing innovation within Europe and academia. Considering the pressing demand for fundamental solutions to improve sustainability and societal well-being, Europe and academia should seize the opportunity to spearhead innovation. In the short term, initiatives will be set up to support AI professors in mentoring students towards foundational innovation and to establish an ELIAS graduate project programme. The participants also developed a vision for forming sciencepreneur units and sciencepreneur fellows within the ELLIS network, which will serve as structural enablers for change. The day finished with a short presentation of ELIAS and its initiatives to support the sciencepreneurial community at large. 

Day two focused on entrepreneurship education and innovative projects. Gregor von Dulong presented best practices from building and scaling entrepreneurship education at Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), while Isabelle Siegrist shared insights on how to set up a pan-European accelerator. As a tangible example of applying AI for sustainability, Wieland Brendel introduced Polybot, a flexible robot designed to enable sustainable agriculture with polycultures. Connecting these diverse projects is a common theme highlighting the strategic importance of fostering cross-border and cross-disciplinary collaborations in driving AI startups forward.

 

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Isabelle Siegrist (ETH Zürich)

Additional spotlight presentations rounded off the program: Steffen Schneider from KI macht Schule (bringing AI to the classroom), Le Viet from La Famiglia (VCs backing EU tech ventures) and Beyza Ermis from Cohere AI (building multilingual AI through open science).

The workshop participants then split up into breakout groups, tackling key challenges and opportunities in the field of sciencepreneurship, with a focus on building the ELIAS Innovation Alliance (EIA). EIA aims to boost academic education around the open-source development of foundation models, supported by a network of incubators and startups building proprietary products around this concept. Aligned with the vision of ELLIS, it seeks to mobilise European talent in AI innovation through a network of members, fellows, and units.

Niculae Sebe, Professor at the University of Trento and Coordinator of the ELIAS project, highlighted: “This workshop was one of the initial steps towards establishing a pan-european sciencepreneurial network and bringing together leaders from academia and industry. It presented an excellent opportunity to lay the foundation for the future ELIAS Innovation Alliance.”

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Concrete outcomes of the workshop and break-out groups include proposals for annual meetings, transformative technology summer schools, hackathons, pioneer awards, MSc graduate programs, pan-European accelerators, and calls for sciencepreneur fellows and units, all of which underscore the networks’ collective commitment to fostering innovation in Europe.

Sciencepreneurship Summer School 2024: Sustainability & AI

Sciencepreneurship Summer School 2024: Sustainability & AI

Mar 11, 2024 | Opportunities

Rolling admissions – deadline March 22, 2024

Apply here

April 29 – May 3, 2024 ― Lausanne, Switzerland

A week-long summer school of talks, workshops, and socials on turning scientific innovation into societal impact through entrepreneurship.

    accomodation included | travel grants available | course credit (1 ECTS)

    Aim

    The aim of this summer school is to address the following questions by sharing knowledge, experiences, and pitfalls about how to transform scientific advances into societal impact through entrepreneurship:

    • How can science be directly valuable for society and scale from lab to market?
    • How to get and choose the right team, funding, advisors, and legal setup?
    • What are common pitfalls in this process, and how to avoid them?
    Program

    The program of this summer school is tailored to provide the participants with a framework to develop the societal impact of scientific advances.

    • First, participants present a scientific innovation and form co-founding teams. 👩‍🔬🧑‍🔬
    • Then, putting the school its lectures, workshops, and socials into practice, teams shape their science-based business. 🚀
    • Finally, participants pitch their work to a jury, receive feedback, and compete for a prize. 🏆
    I'm Interested
    View detailed schedule

    Entrepreneurial graduate students from any institute

    The Sciencepreneurship Summer School focuses on enhancing the exchange between entrepreneurially interested graduate students – mainly PhD students – from EPFL, ETH Zurich, and other leading institutes from around the world. Participation is highly competitive and the total number of participants is limited with admissions on a rolling basis.

    The organizing committee is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive summer school. We encourage all students with an interest to apply. If you have any questions regarding eligibility, feel free to reach out.

    Got any questions? You can reach us on arnout.devos@epfl.ch

    "
    Apply here
    ELIAS Consortium Member Nuria Oliver Joins International Scientific Expert Advisory Panel on Advanced AI Safety

    ELIAS Consortium Member Nuria Oliver Joins International Scientific Expert Advisory Panel on Advanced AI Safety

    Feb 23, 2024 | News

    Nuria Oliver, Director of ELLIS Alicante and Vice-President of ELLIS, has been selected to join an esteemed international advisory body tasked with providing expert insights for the “International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety.” Representing Spain, Nuria Oliver joins 32 experts from 30 nations, as recently announced by the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology of the British Government.

    The first-of-its kind report will drive an up-to-date, science-based understanding of the safety and risks of cutting-edge advanced AI systems. Announced at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, the UK has commissioned Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, a Turing Award-winning AI academic and member of the UN’s Scientific Advisory Board on AI, to chair the report. The report will serve as a reference point and working tool in upcoming AI safety summits.

    The panel members will advise the Chair on the content of the report and are expected to share and promote its findings in their own countries, ensuring that they may guide policymakers and technologists to make informed decisions regarding AI safety. The first publication is expected to take place in the Spring of 2024 and a second iteration will be released at the end of the year. The report is set to become a landmark publication on the most advanced scientific research about the risks and capabilities of frontier AI development. It aims to cement the scientific community’s drive to ensure that discussions on AI safety remain an international collaborative endeavor, bringing together global expertise and diverse perspectives.

    Aside from Nuria Oliver, members of the Expert Advisory Panel represent all continents, including Dr. Hiroaki Kitano, CTO of Sony; Amandeep Gill, UN Tech Envoy; Dame Angela McLean, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Saif M Khan, senior adviser to the secretary for critical and emerging technologies at the US department of commerce. A full list of panel members is available here.

    Nuria Oliver, renowned for her over 25 years of research experience in human-centric AI, will contribute her expertise to the panel. Her participation aligns closely with the mission of ELLIS Alicante, a non-profit private foundation dedicated to responsible AI for Social Good. ELLIS Alicante advocates for transparent, user-centric AI development, focusing on critical issues such as algorithmic fairness, privacy, and the societal impact of AI.

    Nuria Oliver, renowned for her over 25 years of research experience in human-centric AI, will contribute her expertise to the panel. Her participation aligns closely with the mission of ELLIS Alicante, a non-profit private foundation dedicated to responsible AI for Social Good. ELLIS Alicante advocates for transparent, user-centric AI development, focusing on critical issues such as algorithmic fairness, privacy, and the societal impact of AI.

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    Nuria Oliver, renowned for her over 25 years of research experience in human-centric AI, will contribute her expertise to the panel. Her participation aligns closely with the mission of ELLIS Alicante, a non-profit private foundation dedicated to responsible AI for Social Good. ELLIS Alicante advocates for transparent, user-centric AI development, focusing on critical issues such as algorithmic fairness, privacy, and the societal impact of AI.

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    Remarkably, Dr. Oliver is not only a distinguished figure within ELLIS but also holds an important role in the ELIAS Consortium, further underscoring her commitment to collaborative efforts in advancing AI research and innovation and addressing AI safety challenges and ensuring the positive impact of AI on society.

    ELLIS Alicante, our partner in ELIAS, will also contribute to identifying use cases demonstrating AI solutions for Trustworthy AI, with a particular focus on addressing the challenges of responsible AI use in online advertising.

    For more information:

    Read the related press release issued by our ELLIS Unit Alicante in Spanish and in English.

    For more information about research conducted at the ELLIS Unit in Alicante, please visit this website. ELLIS Alicante is a non-for-profit private research foundation focused on ethical and responsible AI for social good. Hence, it is also known as the Institute of Humanity-centric AI.

    Contact

    For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact info@ellisalicante.org or pr@ellis.eu.