Academic initiatives make AI more accessible

Published on 29/04/2022 in Inspire

The academic world is launching initiatives to use the potential of AI in full. VUB's new bachelor in AI and the research institute FARI, which builds bridges between the public, businesses, and governments in Brussels, set the tone.

Academic initiatives make AI more accessible

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. From production environments, mobility and sustainability, to smart algorithms contributing to efficient, fast, and precise processes in all areas of society. "Yet we are still in the early stages. AI has the potential to provide answers to many of the major societal challenges that are emerging today and tomorrow," Professor Ann Nowé explains.

Need for AI-specific training

Professor Nowé is a professor at the VUB, where she runs the AI Lab. It comprises a consortium of four VUB research groups working together on human-centered AI. The AI Lab was established in 1983 as the first of its kind on the European continent and the VUB is now celebrating another pioneering achievement with the first Belgian professional bachelor in AI.

"Today, AI is woven into broader education in various ways,” Professor Nowé explains. "But this integration is limited to a few hours of lessons per week or an elective. We saw the need for an AI-specific training, both for the AI Lab and the field."

AI is about much more than the technical aspect. It also involves connecting with people.

Ann Nowé, Professor of AI at the VUB

Much more than the technical aspect

In addition to a broad mix of STEM subjects, the new program will also include humanities subjects, such as cognitive linguistics, psychology, law, and ethics. "AI is about much more than the technical aspect. It also involves connecting with people." Language and psychology are important tools for this dialogue. We also want to offer our students an insight into the issues that companies and governments are trying to find answers to. Our aim is to make our alumni versed in the world of users, business and in that of the developers."

FARI, a brand new research institute

FARI, which was founded last year, also shows that AI is embedded in a broad social context. The brand new Institute is an initiative of both the VUB and ULB and wants to build a bridge between AI experts, the public, businesses, and local organizations. Co-founder Hans De Canck: "Both the VUB and ULB have a lot of expertise in the field of artificial intelligence, data and robotics.

With FARI, we are pooling that knowledge to offer the people of Brussels an answer to today's challenges." Digital technology, and AI in particular, should be at the service of everyone, hence the premise of the “Common Good”

One of the things we want to look at here at FARI is how AI can help build digital services in Brussels and make them more reliable and accessible.

Hans De Canck, co-director of FARI research institute

Metropolitan context as a starting point

Hans points to the specific dynamics within the metropolitan context. "Issues such as mobility and energy efficiency are at the top of the agenda. But it is also important to focus on inclusion. If you know that almost forty percent of the Brussels population is not up to speed with the digital shift, then there is a great deal of room for improvement. For example, at FARI we want to explore how AI can help to expand digital services and make them more accessible. Involving the public in such projects is crucial."

Both the new bachelor program of the VUB and FARI focus on making AI applications accessible. "The more complex the AI solution and the closer the application is to people, the greater the need for contextualization. After all, the public needs to understand why an algorithm makes or recommends a certain decision".

AI of Things

Professor Nowé expects the various AI systems to communicate even more explicitly with each other in the future. "In the field of mobility, the train, car, bus, and services like Uber are already working out a form of AI. For the time being, these applications are on the whole restricted to their own world. We must also ensure that these different solutions can communicate with each other, creating a form of AI of Things, as it were, by analogy with the Internet of Things."

Professor Nowé is a professor at the VUB, where she heads the Artificial Intelligence lab. Her research focuses mainly on self-learning systems.

Hans De Canck leads the development of the AI Experience Center at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) as manager. He is also a co-director of FARI – AI for the Common Good Institute.

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