Stanford Radio

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman:

Mykel Kochenderfer: AI and Safety-Critical Systems

Advances in artificial intelligence are leading to greater autonomy and improved safety in systems ranging from air traffic control to automated driving.

Artificial intelligence can help us design safety-critical systems for aircraft and other vehicles that are more robust to the many sources of uncertainty in the real world, says aerospace professor Mykel Kochenderfer.

Building systems that meet the exceptionally high level of safety expected of commercial air transport is challenging, but Kochenderfer says that the key is in modeling the likelihood of the full spectrum of outcomes and planning accordingly. Validating the safety of these systems is also difficult, often requiring billions of simulations. He tells Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything how AI, empowered by algorithms such as “dynamic programming,” can make autonomous systems safer.

Dereca Blackmon, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant on tackling uncommon conversations on issues about diversity, inclusion, equity and access.

Cutting through “diversity fatigue” to engage in deep, authentic and meaningful dialogues and “uncommon conversations” on issues of race, gender, class and social justice.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 20, 2020.

Landmark Supreme Court ruling protects gay and transgender workers by federal law from employment discrimination.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 20, 2020.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman:

Pamela Chen: How meme culture and algorithms are reshaping photography

A former senior photo editor for National Geographic and creative director at Instagram, and now HAI-JSK Fellow at Stanford, discusses the changing face of photography in the age of algorithmic personalization.

With a degree in photography with a concentration in mathematics and boasting high-profile jobs at two of the most influential visual outlets in the last century, National Geographic and Instagram, Pamela Chen knows a bit about the state of modern photography and the algorithms that shape popular tastes.

Now, as the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and John S. Knight Journalism (HAI-JSK) Fellow at Stanford, she studies how artificial intelligence is shaping the role of photography in society: particularly the rise of memes, which she refers to as “packets of culture.” Chen says mathematics is redefining photography as much as artistic vision, altering both consumer tastes and the creative eye of photographers who want to become – or remain – relevant in a rapidly changing world.

Chen joins The Future of Everything host Russ Altman to discuss why artificial intelligence’s influence on photography is only just in its infancy and why lovers of photography still have power to shape AI as much as it shapes us.

The recent killings of unarmed black men in police custody, including George Floyd in Minnesota, have once again sparked outrage and protests across the country and world. In this episode, David Owens, an attorney who has represented clients in several high profile police brutality cases, joins us to talk about the challenges that victims, their families, and their attorneys face when bringing cases against the police.

David is a partner at Loevy & Loevy. His practice is national, representing clients from Washington and California, Wisconsin and Illinois, and throughout the South. He is dedicated to zealous, client-centered advocacy on behalf of those seeking vindication for the violation of their civil rights and focuses on cases involving wrongful convictions, police shootings and other excessive force, false arrests, free speech rights, race discrimination, and other violations of the U.S. Constitution. David is also a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago, where he co-teaches in the school’s world-famous pro bono wrongful conviction clinic, The Exoneration Project.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 13, 2020.

Education Professor Mitchell Stevens talks about the future of online learning at universities.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 13, 2020.

How broadcast journalists are working together to cover the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally aired June 13, 2020.

Stanford Law Professor David Sklansky, the Faculty Co-Director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, is a former federal prosecutor who served as special counsel to the independent review panel appointed to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division scandal that formed in the wake of the Rodney King case.

In this episode, Sklansky discusses race and policing in America and how we can reform policing to prevent another George Floyd death in police custody.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 13, 2020.

Communication Professor Jeff Hancock discusses what parents should know about deep fakes, social media and screen use during COVID-19.

Originally aired on SiriusXM on June 13, 2020.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman:

Michael O'Sullivan: Data leads New Zealand’s COVID-19 response

A native New Zealander and engineer versed in data modeling shifts focus from business to public health and contributes to his nation’s response to a dangerous pandemic.

Stanford engineering alumnus Michael O’Sullivan, now at the University of Auckland, likes to say his business is the “science of decision-making,” and that expertise paid off handsomely in his native New Zealand’s successful response to COVID-19.

O’Sullivan pivoted his knowledge of computer modeling, usually reserved for optimizing business processes, to help predict how quickly the disease might have spread through the island nation’s 5 million inhabitants, and to gauge various national response strategies. Based on expert models from a team of researchers that included O’Sullivan, New Zealand’s leadership took an aggressive approach and quelled the disease after just a month of lockdown.

O’Sullivan tells Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything he is now turning his attention to highly detailed geographic models to better understand how COVID-19 could spread geographically if a future outbreak occurs. He is also putting his modeling to work to help analyze how response to the disease will impact the coming flu season and how the lockdown might have had negative effects on the treatment of other illnesses such as the early detection of cancer.

Michael O’Sullivan, MS ’97, PhD '01, would like to acknowledge the work of Kevin Ross, MS '01, PhD '04 (Precision Driven Health), and Pieta Brown (Orion Health), who have been instrumental in making a pipeline for the modeling work discussed in this podcast readily available to the New Zealand government.