The following Great Innovative Idea is from Yonatan Bisk, Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science and member of the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The Idea Language learning requires physically existing in the world (not being just a brain in a jar). A child doesn’t learn language from reading Wikipedia.  They build rich models of the world by seeing and doing.  They understand other humans as socially intelligent and cooperative agents with whom to speak and from whom to learn.  Yet, natural language “understanding” systems have focused on training in an impoverished disembodied text-only setting — trying to download as much text off the internet and […]

The White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) is launching a series of listening sessions and events to involve the American public in the development of a Bill of Rights for an Automated Society. With the growing influence of data-driven technologies, the series is part of a national endeavor to ensure that emerging socio-technical systems are safe and just. In addition to the RFI on current or planned uses of AI-enabled biometric technologies, OSTP will hold two public listening sessions and six public discussion forums seeking input from key stakeholders. Listening Sessions on Public and Private Sector Uses of AI-Enabled Biometrics Listening Session One: Thursday, November  18th, 4:00 p.m. […]

The BPCnet Resource Portal is an initiative by the Computing Research Association with support from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). CISE is committed to broadening participation in computing (BPC). The following was reposted from the BPCnet Bulletin.  In recognition of November 11th as a federal Holiday (Veteran’s Day), BPCnet has rescheduled this year’s final BPC Plan Working Session to Thursday, November 18th from 3- 5 PM. You can review the details of the session and register in advance. If you are unable to participate in the working session, we encourage you to schedule a free appointment with BPC consultants before the December 1st, 2021 – December 22nd, 2021 proposal window […]

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) put out a Request for Information (RFI) on uses of biometric technologies in the public and private sector. Concerns are growing with the increasing number of applications and domains using biometric information to determine identification or inference of emotion, disposition, character, or intent. As a result, OSTP is requesting input from interested parties past deployments, proposals, pilots, or trials, and current use of biometric technologies for the aforementioned purposes. In this case, a “biometric technology” is broadly referred to as a system that uses biometric information for the purpose of recognition or inference. Community responses will be used to understand the current landscape of […]

The BPCnet Resource Portal is an initiative by the Computing Research Association with support from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). CISE is committed to broadening participation in computing (BPC). The following was reposted from the BPCnet Bulletin.  BPCnet.org will be hosting its last working session for this year on Thursday, November 18th, 2021, from 3:00 PM- 5:00 PM ET. The session will assist participants with updating their existing Departmental BPC Plan or creating a new one to meet the updated National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) guidelines. You can review the details of the session and register prior to Thursday, November 11th.   […]

Proposals for Phase I and Phase II of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering’s (CISE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program are due December 2nd, 2021. The NSF SBIR/STTR programs focus on transitioning scientific research with commercial potential or societal benefits out of the lab and onto the market. This program provides funding and entrepreneurial support at the earliest stages of technology and company development to strengthen the national economy, stimulate the creation of breakthrough technologies and products and provide resources to small businesses. One of the main differences between the SBIR and STTR programs is the STTR […]