Artificial Intelligence Topic of April Kaler Science Lecture

UIUC professor to discuss principles, advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning

The history, principles and advancement of artificial intelligence will shape April's James B. Kaler Science Lecture at the William M. Staerkel Planetarium.

University of Illinois Assistant Professor Dr. Alexander Schwing, from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will present "Artificial Intelligence: Making a Brain out of Data and Compute," on Friday, April 5 at 7 p.m. Admission is $2 at the door with Friends of the Staerkel Planetarium admitted free of charge.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence have tempted experts to label the technology "the new electricity," in reference to transformations equaling those caused by electricity 100 years ago. In his presentation, Schwing will discuss the history of the field, explain pictorially one of the main principles in artificial intelligence and machine learning, demonstrate recent advances of the field and envision future developments.

His talk is intended to be accessible to the general public. No prior knowledge is required.

Schwing's research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign centers on machine learning and computer vision. He is particularly interested in algorithms for prediction with and learning of nonlinear, multivariate and structured distributions, and their application in numerous tasks, such as in 3D scene understanding from a single image. He completed his PhD in computer science in the Computer Vision and Geometry Group at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Following Schwing's talk, the planetarium will present the fulldome show, "Two Small Pieces of Glass: The Amazing Telescope" followed by a show based on Pink Floyd’s "The Wall." Tickets for regular planetarium programs range from $5 to $6. Call 217/351-2446 or visit the planetarium website for more information.