Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

The past seven years have witnessed the resurgence and perfection of neural networks, the present-day king of prediction machines. It wasn’t always clear that these highly parameterized, flexible methods of machine learning could actually work. While many of the pioneering ideas date back to the 1990s and even 1980s, including those contributed by researchers recognized […]

No longer just “cool tech” or an innovative way of doing business, artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted from a novelty to a necessity. In their upcoming book Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World, Harvard Business School professors Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani illustrate how the […]

A decade on from the financial crisis that saw stock markets crash, oil prices collapse, and clean technology venture funding dwindle, we’re seeing signs that “cleantech” and sustainability-focused technologies are back in focus — with the effects of climate change ever more apparent and increasingly urgent. As noted in a recent podcast by The Interchange […]

Air travel is stressful. Long lines at security, cramped seats in coach, lost baggage, and tight connecting flights—there is no shortage of pain points in any journey. Machine learning can’t give you more leg room, but it is poised to revolutionize your travel experience. In her recent collaborative work with Heathrow Airport and researchers at […]

This post was originally published in the Digital Initiative’s classroom blogging platform.  It’s an urban legend with surprising ubiquity: the best time to buy plane tickets is Tuesday. While that may be a myth, consumers still go to extreme measures to find deals among airfare fluctuations. Today, companies are using machine learning to predict drops […]

This article originally appeared in Harvard Magazine. On March 18, 2018, at around 10 P.M., Elaine Herzberg was wheeling her bicycle across a street in Tempe, Arizona, when she was struck and killed by a self-driving car. Although there was a human operator behind the wheel, an autonomous system—artificial intelligence—was in full control. This incident, […]

This article originally appeared in Quartz. It’s one thing when companies use algorithms to personalize ads for shoes or tag you in a Facebook photo — it’s quite another when algorithms get to decide whether to release you on bail or send you to prison. While many have voiced concerns about using algorithms to inform […]

How and why artificial intelligence is being used in the criminal justice system is coming under increasing scrutiny. Research has exposed the way applications intended to remove human bias are instead exasperating existing inequalities within the system. One of the drivers of this problem is the gap between the decision-makers who are trying to use […]

How can businesses protect sensitive user data to foster trust among consumers? How can they design products and tools that avoid racial, gender, and other biases towards users? How should they decide who uses their products, and for what purpose? The answers to these and other questions are especially pertinent to the developers of artificial […]

Technologists, managers, and policymakers all have a seat at the table here. Assembly, a collaboration of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard and the MIT Media Lab, is about creating space for cross-sector teams to crack the code to some of AI’s toughest ethical and governance problems — problems that would otherwise fall out of reach.