ADAPT Radio

This podcast is also available with international sign language and closed captions on YouTube. https://youtu.be/vrvoiYNRpts

We live in an Uber digital world, and being able to access online information is an important part of life. Unfortunately, this isn’t always accessible for minority communities, such as the deaf and hard of hearing.

Today we learn about the challenges this community faces in the digital world and barriers that exist in sign language translation.

We hear from experts who have been in the SignON Project, which is a European project aimed at overcoming these issues and creating a more accessible online experience.

Our guests today are Dr. Dimitar Shterionov, Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at Tilburg University, who was scientific lead on the project, and Davy Van Landuyt, Project Officer with the European Union of the Deaf and an end user of the project as a deaf person. We are also delighted to be joined by interpreter Romy O’Callaghan.

This podcast has been published in both audio and video format. For video format with sign language please click here.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● The unique task of developing AI-powered technology for sign language translation

● Challenges faced by the deaf community in accessing online information

● How the SignON project is tackling these issues with new technology

● Importance of co-creation and involving the deaf and hard of hearing community

● Addressing data availability and quality before launching to the public

GUEST DETAILS

Dr. Dimitar Shterionov is Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at Tilburg University, The Netherlands (scientific lead). Between January and July 2020 he worked as an assistant professor in Computing the School of Computing, DCU. Prior to that (2017 - 2019) he worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the ADAPT centre, DCU. He holds a PhD in computer science engineering from KULeuven, Belgium. He was the scientific lead of the EU-funded project on translation of sign and oral languages: SignON with Professor Andy Way of the ADAPT Centre.

Davy Van Landuyt is Project Officer with the European Union of the Deaf. Davy is a deaf Belgian with roots in the social-cultural movement and association work in the deaf community, going through all possible layers from the local level to the European level. Since 2021, he has worked as Project Officer for the European Union of the Deaf. Outside of his commitments in the deaf community, Davy is also active in the area of localization, specifically videogame and software localization in the Dutch language.

MORE INFORMATION

SignON is a European funded Horizon 2020 project that started in January 2021 and ran until December 2023, with the objective of addressing the communication gap between users of spoken languages and Deaf sign language users.

https://signon-project.eu/about-signon/the-signon-project/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

The AI Act is leading the way as the first-ever legal framework on AI, but what challenges are facing regulators when it comes to adapting to the rapid evolution of this technology, and in bringing tough conversations about its capabilities to the global stage?

Today we hear from the architect of the groundbreaking AI Act about ‘The Geopolitics of AI’, where he explains how the EU is positioning itself as a global leader in AI governance, and why this matters for everyone - from policymakers to everyday people. He discusses the delicate balance between fostering innovation and protecting society, and why he believes the EU can gain a competitive edge in the global AI race if it plays its cards right.

Our guest is passionate about asking the big questions about our AI-driven future. He is Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age, Dragoş Tudorache.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Why the EU's AI Act is a pioneering model for global AI governance

● The challenges of implementing AI regulations

● AI's profound impact on society, economy, and warfare

● Geopolitical implications of AI development including data and talent acquisition.

● Global cooperation in AI governance with inclusive conversations

GUEST DETAILS

Dragoș Tudorache is a Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Renew Europe Group. He is the Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA) and the LIBE rapporteur on the AI Act, and he sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), and the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US).

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

The act itself is not just a piece of legislation. It's not just a bunch of rules and standards on the back of those rules. It is a very powerful Statement of Purpose, Statement of Intent, very political, very geopolitical - Dragoș Tudorache

We have to also think very seriously on how we start bringing society on board in understanding how much AI is going to mean in their lives in the years to come. - Dragoș Tudorache

The Act is a living text, and we've deliberately made it a living text, so that it keeps adapting to the technology and the reality of the world. - Dragoș Tudorache

AI is the most disruptive technological change in the history of mankind. The future will be shaped by those who shape AI, and who have the competitive edge on AI. - Dragoș Tudorache

AI is reshaping war as we've known it. - Dragoș Tudorache

We're not very good at retaining talent here in Europe. Not because we don't produce it, actually we're quite good at producing the talent, but we are neither good at keeping it here. - Dragoș Tudorache

KEYWORDS

#ai #data #technology #supercomputers #democracies #geopolitical #regulation #eu

When Chat GPT hit the public consciousness just a couple of years ago, we immediately started to see effects in education, with students and teachers alike using Generative AI to support learning.

With Gen AI and chatbots advancing at such a rapid pace, their role in education is increasing. At a recent event in Trinity College, called ‘Unlocking the Future of Learning’, we heard a fascinating keynote about how Gen AI is evolving and how it can assist teachers and students in enhancing learning and efficiency, but also the precautions we need to take to use it to our best benefit.

Our expert Prof Vincent Wade has been involved in education technology for almost 25 years as a researcher and a user, and is Co-Founder of the ADAPT SFI Research Centre.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● An overview of generative AI is and how it works

● Embracing Gen AI possibilities to create efficient workplaces

● Using generative AI to enhance teaching and learning

● Risks and limitations including hallucination, biases, and ethical and privacy concerns

● Future potential uses in education technology

GUEST DETAILS

Professor Vincent Wade is co-founder of the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology and holds the Professorial Chair of Computer Science (Est. 1990) in School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin as well as a Personal Chair in Artificial Intelligence. He is also co-director of the DREAL Centre for Research Training.

His research focuses on intelligent systems, AI and Personalisation. He was awarded Fellowship of Trinity College for his contribution to research and has published over three hundred and fifty scientific papers in peer reviewed international journals and conferences. Other awards won by Professor Wade include the European Language Label Award for innovation in Language Learning Technology (2010). He also holds multiple patents and invention disclosures in the area of personalisation and digital content technologies.

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

What differentiates us from a lot of other research centres is that what we try and do is be human centric, we're actually looking at the technology and how it empowers an individual, rather than us being automated by the technology, which is not just uncomfortable, but actually is not going to be successful in the future. - Vincent Wade

It's the fastest adopted technology ever in history. To get to 100 million users, it only took two months. - Vincent Wade

Gen AI may not take your job, but someone using Gen AI will, because they're going to be much more efficient and productive. Don't get scared, you can use it too. - Vincent Wade

When you bring in a new technology, what happens is it creates new roles. The problem with Gen AI is it's come in so fast, that we haven't even identified what those roles are. We're only beginning now. - Vincent Wade

KEYWORDS

#ai #education #chatgpt #language #information #data

AI is developing at such a rapid pace that we can get caught up in its potential capabilities and role in our future. However, there are still a lot of issues to rule out.

ADAPT recently hosted the Annual Scientific Conference 2024 in Dublin and today we’re hearing one of the keynote speakers, Abeba Birhane. We learn about the potential dangers of large-scale datasets, such as AI hallucinations and the reinforcement of societal biases and negative stereotypes. She also explored strategies for both incremental improvements and guiding broader structural changes in AI.

Our expert guest has been exploring strategies for both incremental improvements and guiding broader structural changes in AI. She is Senior Advisor for AI Accountability at Mozilla, Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin and new ADAPT member, Abebe Birhane.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● How rumours of autonomous AI distract from real issues

● Hallucinations creating factually incorrect information

● AI ownership giving power to the hands of the few

● Data issues with collection, copyright and biases

● Creating standards for the safe use and development of AI

GUEST DETAILS

Abeba Birhane is a cognitive scientist, currently a Senior Advisor in AI Accountability at the Mozilla Foundation and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin (working with Trinity’s Complex Software Lab).

She researches human behaviour, social systems, and responsible and ethical artificial intelligence and was recently appointed to the UN’s Advisory Body on AI. Abeba works at the intersection of complex adaptive systems, machine learning, algorithmic bias, and critical race studies. In her present work, Abeba examines the challenges and pitfalls of computational models and datasets from a conceptual, empirical, and critical perspective.

Abeba Birhane has a PhD in cognitive science at the School of Computer Science, UCD, and Lero, The Irish Software Research Centre. Her interdisciplinary research focused on the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between ubiquitous technologies, personhood, and society. Specifically, she explored how ubiquitous technologies constitute and shape what it means to be a person through the lenses of embodied cognitive science, complexity science, and critical data studies.

Her work with Vinay Prabhu uncovered that large-scale image datasets commonly used to develop AI systems, including ImageNet and 80 Million Tiny Images, carried racist and misogynistic labels and offensive images. She has been recognised by VentureBeat as a top innovator in computer vision.

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

Generative AI has been around for quite some time, but the introduction of DALL-E back in April 2022 can be noted as one of the landmarks where generative AI really exploded into the public space. - Abeba Birhane

These hypothetical AI concerns, existential concerns, about the very idea of this attempt to build AGI has neither scientific nor engineering principles. Again, a lot of it is just hype, marketing, and PR, that is just really dominating the entire field. - Abeba Birhane

The results are really worrying, over 50% of the output from these models was inaccurate, 40%, harmful, and incomplete - Abeba Birhane

There is no such thing as fully autonomous AI, we will always need people, humans, in the loop. - Abeba Birhane

KEYWORDS

#ai #data #audit #research #chatgpt #ethicalai

How we view the past is very much shaped by the stories we're told about it and AI innovations are helping researchers to enrich our understanding of history.

A new project called VOICES is using artificial intelligence to uncover the untold women's experiences of extreme trauma and civil war in early modern Ireland. The project was recently launched at Trinity College Dublin and today we hear from the interdisciplinary team of historians and computer scientists leading the research.

Our expert guests are two Trinity researchers, Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History, Jane Ohlmeyer, and Professor in Computer Science in the School of Computer Science and Statistics, Declan O'Sullivan.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Challenges in processing data from the 16th and 17th Century

● Utilising knowledge graphs for interpreting phrases, spelling and grammar

● Recovering stories of Ireland’s forgotten women

● Creating processes and digital archives for future researchers

● Crossovers in learning from interdisciplinary approaches

GUEST DETAILS

Professor Jane Ohlmeyer is Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of the Irish Research Council, which funds frontier research across all disciplines. Jane was the founding Head of the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity’s first Vice-President for Global Relations (2011-14) and Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute (2015-20).

Jane is an expert on the New British and Atlantic Histories and has published extensively on early modern Irish and British history. She is the author or editor of numerous articles and 13 books. Jane has been the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI for 25 research and research infrastructure projects with awards totalling c.€22 million from national, European and international funders.

Declan O’Sullivan is a Professor in Computer Science at the School of Computer Science and Statistics, and is a co-applicant Principal Investigator in the ADAPT SFI Research Centre. Prof. O’Sullivan and his team’s research in Knowledge Graph Techniques, which extracts, transforms and integrates data, is central to this relationship between data and machine learning.

Since joining TCD from industry in 2001, Declan has established himself as an international research leader in his field: authoring 260+ scientific peer-reviewed papers and international Journals; being a member of 3 journal editorial boards and having undertaken 12+ chair roles in IEEE and IFIP conferences over the years. He has won competitive research funding as PI and Co-PI of approximately 7.8M euro. He was elected as a Fellow in Trinity College Dublin in 2019 in recognition for the quality of his contributions.

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#knowledgegraph #ireland #data #history #17thcentury #archives #AI

You cannot move an inch these days without encountering takes on the future of AI and technology, and concerns about how it may impact our lives for better or worse.

Today we're talking about new ways to approach the ethics of AI and digital technologies and what research is being done to answer the questions and the dilemmas these new technologies raise.

Our experts today are from the ADAPT Centre and are researching alternative methods of ethical and critical thinking in the design of digital technologies and AI.

They are Assistant Professor at the School of Information and Communication Studies in University College Dublin (UCD), Dr Marguerite Barry and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Information and Communication Studies at UCD, Dr Paul O’Neill.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Critical thinking and ethical design in AI

● Incorporating ethics at the research stage

● The importance of public engagement on future uses of digital technologies

● Beta Festival: Using art to encourage engagement and critical thinking

● Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research

GUEST DETAILS

Prof Marguerite Barry is Assistant Professor at the School of Information and Communication Studies in University College Dublin (UCD). Her research area is human-computer interaction (HCI) and digital media communication studies with a focus on ethical design and development in policy and practice. She is a funded investigator with ADAPT on the Transparent Data Governance strand where she is working on the Autonomy & Responsibility challenge. This involves interdisciplinary projects to support multi-stakeholder engagement in AI technologies from design to deployment.

Dr. Paul O’ Neill is an artist and researcher whose practice and research are concerned with the implications of our collective dependency on networked technologies and infrastructures. Paul is a postdoctoral research fellow at the ADAPT Centre for AI-driven Media Technologies at University College Dublin where he is focusing on the ethics and design of Artificial Intelligence systems. He is also a co-curator of the Dublin Art and Technology Association (D.A.T.A).

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#technology #ethics #data #research #ai #art

The Irish language is an important part of Ireland's culture, but it is a minority language and like many ‘at risk’ languages around the world, Irish needs to be protected.

Today we're talking about how AI can help to boost the Irish language and the importance of diverse data collection in building robust translation systems. We also hear how researchers are using natural language processing and other tools to help maintain the richness of the language and make it more accessible and available to those who use it.

Our experts today are passionate about protecting minority languages and are working on technology to improve machine translation of the Irish language with the Adapt Centre. They are postdoctoral researcher, Dr Abigail Walsh and research assistant with eSTÓR, Gráinne Caulfield, both from Dublin City University.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Protecting minority languages with AI

● The limitations of data collection and the need for more diversity

● Using Natural Language Processing to collect the complexities of a language

● AI’s role in encouraging more use of an at risk language

● Getting social media platforms on board to make language more accessible

GUEST DETAILS

Abigail Walsh is a PhD student at the ADAPT Centre in Dublin City University. Her research focuses on improving NLP for Irish language, focusing on the treatment and automatic processing of Multiword Expressions (MWEs). Abigail’s interests include Irish language technology, MWEs, NLP for low-resource languages, linguistic analysis, data processing, Machine Translation, and Machine Learning.

Gráinne Caulfield is a recent graduate of Irish & French from Trinity College Dublin, currently working as a Research Assistant on the eSTÓR project. In this role, she executes the project’s outreach activities- carrying out site visits to relevant stakeholders, managing the social media platforms, newsletter writing etc, as well as translation and data processing duties.

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#irish #language #data #translation #machinetranslation #technology #ai

The pace of change in AI is beyond rapid and it's an exciting time for research in Ireland.

Professor John Keller is now leading the way in research as the new director of ADAPT, the SFI Research Center for AI Driven Digital Content Technology.

Today we hear about John’s ambitions in his new appointment including his thoughts on current developments in AI, how he plans to lead ADAPT and prepare for the future and why supporting multidisciplinary research will be a key focus for the centre.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Keeping up with the pace of AI as it enters the mainstream

● SignON: Making AI accessible

● ADAPT’s role in mitigating the harms of AI

● Integrating multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research

● Mentoring and resourcing new researchers and culture

● Preparing for future challenges across different industries

GUEST DETAILS

Prof John D. Kelleher is the newly appointed director of the ADAPT Centre and Chair of Artificial Intelligence at Trinity College, Dublin. John’s core research expertise is in the areas machine/deep learning and natural language processing. Previously, he was the TU Dublin lead in the ADAPT centre and the scientific lead for the Digital Content Transformation Strand.

Within the ADAPT Centre he leads research projects on language modelling, lexical semantics, machine translation, novelty detection, image captioning, dialog systems, and making AI more environmentally sustainable.

John has been the academic lead on numerous industry projects across a range of topics and domains, including: anomaly detection, transfer learning, customer segmentation and propensity modelling, dialog systems and chat bots, and information retrieval and natural language processing.

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Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

The impact and penetration of AI into people's lives means that there's so much interest from industry in artificial intelligence, and that's really driving the pace. - John Kelleher

When these types of technologies are prevalent throughout society it's important that the people in that society understand what they are and how they work. - John Kelleher

The most important aspect, or the foundations we need to build in order for interdisciplinary research to flourish, is that we can communicate across disciplines. So we need to spend time with each other as researchers, understanding each other's language. And at the core of that is a willingness to listen. - John Kelleher

Exciting things often happen at the margins, between disciplines, for people to come together in a complementary team, where they have complementary expertise. And so once you can build a bridge across the discipline, then you can do really exciting work. - John Kelleher

Fluency in and of itself isn't the sign of intelligence that we thought it was before. And that's why maybe we need more emphasis on creativity and critical thinking within education. - John Kelleher

KEYWORDS

#ai #adapt #research #technology #artificialintelligence #culture #languagemodels #accessibility

In the age of data our private information is currency and we digital trails behind us everywhere we go online. As AI grows in popularity, some fear it may be a threat to our privacy. It’s important we consider how we can best protect ourselves from our valuable information ending up in the wrong hands.

Today, in light of Data Privacy Week, we're diving into the week’s theme, ‘Take Control of Your Data’, to ask how we can do that, who the responsibility of protection and regulation lies with and the ways generative AI can be a game changer for data privacy.

Our expert is passionate about data protection at an organisational level and is Vice President and Chief Knowledge Officer at the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Caitlin Fennessey.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● How the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) is approaching AI

● Generative AI and protecting data privacy

● Data Privacy Week: Taking control of your data

● Encouraging organisations to embrace AI, rather than ban it

● Global streamlining of data privacy regulation

● Individual responsibility and creating change in organisations

GUEST DETAILS

Caitlin Fennessy is Vice President and Chief Knowledge Officer at the International Association of Privacy Professionals, where she guides the strategic development of IAPP research, publications, communications, programming and external affairs.

Caitlin is a recognized privacy expert, serving as an inaugural member of the UK International Data Transfers Expert Council, on the German Marshall Global Task Force to Promote Trusted Sharing of Data and on the Future of Privacy Forum Advisory Board. She speaks and leads frequent public discussions on the practical impacts of privacy developments around the world.

Prior to joining the IAPP, Caitlin was the Privacy Shield Director at the U.S. International Trade Administration, where she spent ten years working on international privacy and cross-border data flow policy issues.

International Association of Privacy Professionals: https://iapp.org/about/person/0011a00000DlNmBAAV/

MORE INFORMATION

This episode is in association with Empower, which is coordinated by Maynooth University.

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

KEYWORDS

#privacy #data #ai #governance #privacyissues #artificialintelligence

One of the most visible areas AI has been in use in the area of translation. Large language models are getting better and better at learning the subtleties and nuances of human speech and becoming more accessible. Do human translators need to be worried?

Today we hear a talk on the intricacies of AI translation technology, where it is succeeding and where there is downfall, and why we’re maybe overestimating the impact it will have.

Our expert is Professor at Dublin City University and deputy director of the ADAPT Centre, Andy Way, who is a machine translation expert for over 35 years and has been instrumental in shaping the field of machine translation worldwide.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

01:12 Why neural machine translation is better than SMT

04:16 Data limitations in NMT

09:44 Hype around ChatGPT and AI

14:27 The European Language Equality Project

21:34 Inherent dangers in AI

28:42 What is ChatGPT actually being used for?

33:50 Humans are clever, not the systems

40:45 Q+A

GUEST DETAILS

Prof. Andy Way has been in DCU since 1991, except for a period of sabbatical leave working in the translation and localisation industry in the UK between 2011-14. From 2014, he has been back in DCU full-time as Professor in the School of Computing at Dublin City University. In 2014, he became Deputy Director of the CNGL Centre for Intelligent Content at DCU. This programme was replaced by the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology in 2015, where he remains Deputy Director.

Prof. Way was Editor for the journal Machine Translation from 2007-21. He was President of the International Association for Machine Translation from 2011-13, and President of the European Association for Machine Translation from 2009-15. In 2015, he received the President's Research Award for the Sciences and Engineering faculties at DCU, and the IAMT Award of Honour in 2019 for services to the MT community.

He has over 400 peer-reviewed conference papers and journals to date, and has brought in over €60 million in external research funding.

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

In neural machine translation, we actually do have a model of the entire source string, and because of that, that, to me, is the biggest reason why neural machine translation output is better than a statistical machine translation output. - Andy Way

The obvious implication is that for those languages where high class machine translation systems cannot be built, human translators will still be needed. - Andy Way

AI and ChatGPT is being used not only for good, but for nefarious purposes as well. - Andy Way

Large language models or multilingual large language models can produce high quality output and so, I think people who are system developers who rely on old neural technology better change to using multilingual large language models fairly quickly if their systems are not to become redundant. - Andy Way

I think there'll be increasing demand for spoken language translation or multimodal translation in general. But again, you know, if there is a lack of data for many languages, or many use cases, for text data, you can imagine how hard this is going to be for spoken language data and multimodal data. - Andy Way

I believe that you can't do machine translation wholly without input from linguists, or translators. - Andy Way

Maybe the honeymoon period is over, people have started to push back against tools like ChatGPT, saying that they're not as good as people are claiming them to be and that we need legislation to make sure what use cases are being used for good rather than for evil. We need to not overhype this technology because then people are disappointed when they come to use the tools, and responsible, Explainable AI is the future. - Andy Way

KEYWORDS

#machinetranslation #translators #ai #chatgbt #largelanguagemodels