AI Innovation Institute

The Future Histories Studio at Stony Brook University and Guggenheim New York are collaborating to present a day-long symposium on October 24 at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. This conference will explore urgent questions at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the human, and is co-organized by Noam Segal, LG Electronics Associate Curator at Guggenheim New York. In this role, Noam plays an important part in researching these topics, promoting a deeper understanding of the ways in which contemporary artists use new technologies, and developing and supporting the Guggenheim's engagement with technology-based art under the LG Guggenheim Art and Technology Initiative.

The event examines the profound transformations brought by automation--how AI compels us to rethink cognition, agency, and the conditions of reason itself. As these systems become ever more embedded in daily life--largely invisible yet deeply consequential--they challenge the very foundations of subjectivity and governance. We are surrounded by logics we cannot fully access, yet which shape our realities, while new forms of alterity arise--distinct modes of reasoning that propose collective unknowns beyond established frameworks of knowledge.

This emerging terrain invites us to consider cognitive plurality, where biological and technological intelligences generate new categories, concepts, and understandings. Once unique to humans--art, authorship, judgment, invention--are now co-articulated with systems of computation and planetary-scale infrastructure. The symposium brings together artists, scholars, and technologists to probe the cultural, philosophical, and ecological implications of this entanglement.

The concept of neurodiversity has shown that neurological differences such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia are not deficits but variations that enrich collective life. Extending this to machines can be provocative: just as neurodivergence unsettles fixed definitions of intelligence, so too AI challenges anthropocentric assumptions about cognition. Yet the analogy is limited. Neurodiversity is rooted in the lived struggles of human communities, while machines neither think nor struggle. Human cognition involves perception, learning, memory, and reasoning through embodied experience. Machine cognition, by contrast, is computational pattern recognition and statistical modeling, without consciousness or lived context, and with only narrow forms of sensing.

For this reason, the symposium advances a broader framework of cognitive diversity or technodiversity--a recognition of proliferating intelligences, human, machinic, and hybrid, as part of a shared ecology. This shift calls for new models of creativity, responsibility, and collaboration that honor the irreducibility of human thought while engaging the radical alterity of machine logics.

Location: Stony Brook Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Della Pietra Family Auditorium

This event is co organized by the Guggenheim New York

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The current COVID-19 situation is challenging and difficult for all of us - we hope this virtual conference will allow colleagues to share and discuss their latest research, while under travel and stay-at-home restrictions.

Because of the ongoing COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, CSHL and the organizers have now reached the difficult decision to restructure the meeting on From Neuroscience to Artificially Intelligent Systems into a virtual meeting scheduled November 9-12, 2020.  NAISys will begin at 10 am (EDT)  on Monday, November 9 and ending with an afternoon session on Thursday, November 12, 2020. Oral sessions will be confined to later morning and afternoon sessions EST to maximize access by participants from around the world. 

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Artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks have long drawn on neuroscience for inspiration. However, in spite of tremendous recent advances in AI, natural intelligence is still far more adept at interacting with the real world in real-time, adapting to changes, and doing so under significant physical and energetic constraints. The goal of this meeting is to bring together researchers at the intersection of AI and neuroscience, and to identify insights from neuroscience that can help catalyze the development of next-generation artificial systems.

Abstracts are welcomed on all scientific topics related to how principles and insights from neuroscience can lead to better artificial intelligence. Topics of interest include but are not limited to network architectures, computing with spiking networks, learning algorithms, active perception, inductive bias, meta-learning, and online learning. Please note that abstracts should be ONE page (~2900 characters).   

New and revised abstracts should be submitted by the resubmission deadline, Friday, August 14. Individuals originally selected for talks should assume they will still be speaking, but we may select additional talks based on the number of invited and selected speakers who cannot reconfirm.

Abstracts should contain only new and unpublished material and must be submitted electronically by the abstract deadline. Selection of material for oral and poster presentation will be made by the organizers and individual session chairs. Status (talk/poster) of abstracts will be posted on our web site as soon as decisions have been made by the organizers.

We are eager to have as many students and postdocs as possible to attend since they are likely to benefit most from this meeting. We have applied for funds from industry and foundations to partially support graduate students and postdocs. Apply in writing stating need for financial support to Catie Carr at carr@cshl.edu. Preference is given to those submitting abstracts. 

All questions pertaining to registration, fees, abstract submission or any other matters may be directed to Catie Carr at carr@cshl.edu.

We anticipate the following support :

Social Media:

The designated hashtag for this meeting is #cshlNeuroAI. Note that you must obtain permission from an individual presenter before live-tweeting or discussing his/her talk, poster, or research results on social media. Click the Policies tab above to see our full Confidentiality & Reporting Policy.

Virtual Academic Package: $285
Virtual Graduate Student Package: $175
Virtual Corporate Package: $425

Lab Group Discounts (not departmental or institutional discounts):

Labs registering 4 people: 20% discount off applicable fees
Labs registering 5 people: 25% discount off applicable fees
Labs registering 6 people: 30% discount off applicable fees

To be eligible for lab group discounts, please submit a list of lab members planning to attend in advance of registration to Catie Carr  to establish appropriate discounted fees. Please include a link to your lab web page for verification purposes. Prior payments will be included in the group discount calculation.

IBRO/International Brain Research Organization are generously supporting the participation of a limited number of individuals from US/Canadian Minority Serving Institutions (check eligibility): $25
Limit: 65 attendees / limit per institution: 5 (contact Catie Carr  to confirm eligibility/availability prior to registering) 

Reduced Pricing for Individuals from US/Canadian Minority Serving Institutions (check eligibility): $50

Visual Analytics and Machine Learning for Biomedical Imaging Diagnosis

Arie Kaufman

We present an integrated approach using visual analytics and machine learning (ML) to diagnose abnormalities in 3D radiological imaging and biological microscopes. The primary example will involve 3D virtual pancreatography (VP), a novel visualization-ML procedure and application for non-invasive diagnosis and classification of pancreatic lesions, the precursors of pancreatic cancer. Currently, non-invasive screening of patients is performed through visual inspection of 2D axis-aligned CT images, though the relevant features are often not clearly visible nor automatically detected. VP is an end-to-end visual diagnosis system that includes an ML-based automatic segmentation of the pancreatic gland and the lesions, a semi-automatic approach to extract the primary pancreatic duct, an ML-based automatic classification of lesions into four prominent types, and specialized 3D and 2D exploratory visualizations of the pancreas, lesions and surrounding anatomy. We combine volume rendering with pancreas- and lesion-centric visualizations and measurements for effective diagnosis. We designed VP through close collaboration and feedback from expert radiologists, and evaluated it on multiple real-world CT datasets with various pancreatic lesions and case studies examined by the expert radiologists. Other applications include virtual colonoscopy, COVID-19, pathology, brain neurites, etc.

Biography: Arie Kaufman is Distinguished Professor and formerChair of the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University, where he is also Director of the Center for Visual Computing (CVC), and Chief Scientist at the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT). 

He received his PhD in Computer Science at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1977.   He is known for his work in visualization, graphics, virtual reality, user interfaces, multimedia, and their applications, especially in bio-medicine. He is especially well known for his work on the 3-dimensional virtual colonoscopy, a revolutionary low-risk technique for colon cancer screening, and for pioneering the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and GPU-clusters. In 2012, he presided over the development and opening of the Reality Deck, the largest virtual reality display in the world, at Stony Brook University.

Kaufman was the founding Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), co-founded the IEEE Visualization Conference and Volume Graphics series, and is currently the director of IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Visualization and Graphics. He is an IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow, winner of many awards, including the IEEE Visualization Career Award, and member of the European Academy of Sciences.

Steven Skiena is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AI Seminar: Arie Kaufman
Time: Apr 21, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://stonybrook.zoom.us/j/96017498640?pwd=SE0rdHB6ZVlCM2ZpY2RnRUxyVnR3Zz09

You are cordially invited to attend the biweekly Brookhaven AI Mixer (BAM). BAM includes one short talk on AI research happening at BNL, followed by an open mixer over coffee and snacks for everyone to network and discuss all things AI. The first half hour will consist of presentations that will be available via ZOOM, and the second half hour will be for in person only networking.

Join us every other Tuesday at noon in CDSD's Training Room (building 725, 2nd floor) to learn about interesting AI methods and applications, engage with potential collaborators, prepare for pending FASST funding calls, and build a community of AI for Science at BNL.

Abstract: The increasing complexity and volume of data from electron microscopy necessitates advanced computational tools for timely and accurate analysis. In this talk, I will present several machine learning (ML) models developed to interpret diverse datasets from transmission electron microscopy (TEM). First, I demonstrate segmentation models for labelling regions of interest from in situ TEM images, such as atomic column positions or reaction sites that allow atomic-level quantitative analysis of data. Second, I introduce a self-supervised CNN model for denoising of low-dose HRTEM images, enabling clearer visualization of atomic features without sacrificing temporal resolution. Finally, a transformer-based model trained to predict copper oxidation states directly from their electron energy loss spectroscopy spectra will be introduced. Together, these projects showcase the power of tailored ML solutions to extract quantitative insights from complex microscopy data.

Biography: Brian Lee is a research associate working for the Electron Microscopy group and Theory and Computation group at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Previously, he has received PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and worked as a postdoc at Purdue University. His research focuses on applying machine learning and simulation techniques for materials science.

Location: CDS, Bldg. 725, Training Room

Join ZoomGov Meeting: https://bnl.zoomgov.com/j/1604383624?pwd=ffQ5cUPNxTI7nzClKQO6cnsNbhF9Vf.1

Meeting ID: 160 438 3624
Passcode: 558449