As artificial intelligence continues to dominate the news, we're highlighting the ways MS&E influences AI. Some of our research affects the inner workings of AI algorithms, for example, while other projects seek to make use of AI in novel ways. Below are excerpts from
four stories of MS&E faculty whose research interacts with AI:
Teaching AI to learn faster and better
While it seems like ChatGPT and "AI-powered everything" happened overnight, it's actually the culmination of decades of work, according to Professor Ben Van Roy. "I've been telling people for some time that this is coming. A lot of them seemed to think I was making this up," he said.
Read more about Professor Van Roy's work in reinforcement learning, as well as his predictions for the future of AI.
Helping ordinary people solve extraordinary problems
For decades, MS&E has been at the forefront of operations research, creating optimization models to aid excellent decision-making in an endless stream of complex situations. The problem is, most people in practice don't have the technical know-how or the math skills to make use of such models. Enter Professor Madeleine Udell, who is making automated optimization modeling tools to help non-experts determine the best set of choices for complicated situations.
Learn more about how Professor Udell is making AI more accessible.
Making better financial investments
Professor Markus Pelger is working to perfect machine learning techniques to help finance professionals make better investments. His latest research deals with the challenges of many variables and relatively small datasets by applying a novel "no arbitrage" constraint.
Learn more about Professor Pelger's innovations.
Improving transparency of AI-powered decisions
According to Professor Kay Giesecke, AI can be a tool for better decision-making in a variety of industries, but there's an elephant in the room: trust. "People often prefer more transparent but inferior algorithms that have been around for decades. They're using them because they understand them," he said.
Read more about how Professor Giesecke is developing trust in AI systems.
