Modern-day AI is a culmination of weird ideas of stalwarts spread over centuries. The year 2021 especially is special in this regard as it also happens to be the 375th birth anniversary of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the 90th anniversary of Kurt Goedels 1931 groundbreaking paper, and the 80th anniversary of Konrad Zuses seminal work. These works laid the foundations for modern-day AI and its algorithms. The significance of this year was first brought to light by Prof. Juergen Schmidhuber, who himself has been responsible for many groundbreaking works in the field of AI.

Also known as the worlds first computer scientist, Leibnizs work had a great impact on the field of computing. According to Prof.Schmidhuber, many aspects of modern computer science can be traced back to Leibniz. Leibnizs step reckoner was the first machine to add, multiply and memorise numbers. In 1679, writes Prof.Schmidhuber, Leibniz described the very principles of a binary computer. His description describes precisely how electronic computers function. Gravity and movement of marbles are replaced by electrical circuits, but the principle functions in the same way.

Leibniz was also one of the first thinkers who tried to understand the fundamental concepts behind human thoughts and language. In a way, Leibniz has laid the foundations for modern-day natural language processing. In one of his essays, Leibniz opined that languages mirror the human mind, and by analysing the significance of words, one can gain more insights into the foundations of understanding. The earliest works on symbolic representation of human cognitive processes and human reasoning can be traced back to Leibniz. The intricacies of human reasoning still elude current AI researchers as the pursuit of artificial general intelligence continues.

Talking about Leibnizs contributions, computer scientist Stephen Wolfram in one of his talks on AI ethics, said that we can still have many of his contributions have their traces in theorem proving systems and modern ML or, Its humbling to see how many concepts it effectively forms that we havent yet absorbed in our culture, mulled Wolfram.

Kurt Gdel was known for his works on fundamental limits of theorem proving, computing, AI, logic, and mathematics itself. This had an enormous impact on the science and philosophy of the 20th century. Gdels incompleteness result is widely regarded as the most remarkable achievement of 20th-century mathematics. The significance of Gdels theorems aged well with time. From being ignored by mathematicians to realising its connectivity in many computing endeavours, Gdels work has had a great impact on theoretical computer science.

Gdels work on universal formal languages and the limits of proof and computation laid the foundations of theoretical computer science. Gdels incompleteness theorems deal with mathematical logic that demonstrates the inherent limitations of every formal axiomatic system capable of modelling basic arithmetic. Godels theorems are aimed at building a universal computer that can do any computation.

Wolfram also wrote in 2006: In the seventy-five years since then, what became known as Gdels theorem has been ascribed almost mystical significance, sowing the seeds for the computer revolution. Back in 2003, Prof. Schmidhuber even made an attempt to make superintelligent machines a reality by proposing a Gdel machine, which can rewrite its own code as soon as it has found proof that the rewrite is useful. Given the tremendous impact of Gdels results on AI theory, it does make sense to date AIs beginnings back to his 1931 publication 75 years ago, wrote Prof.Schmidhuber in a 2006 paper.

In 1941, Konrad Zuse completed the worlds first practical, working, programmable, general-purpose, computer called Z3, which was destroyed in a WW2 aerial bombing, but Zuses ideas survived. Z3 uses 2,300 relays, performs floating point binary arithmetic, and has a 22-bit word length. The physical hardware of Z3 was indeed universal in the modern sense of Gdel, Church, Turing, and Post simple arithmetic tricks can compensate for Z3s lack of an explicit conditional jump instruction, explained Prof.Schmidhuber.

The last century or so has witnessed tremendous innovation in the field of mathematics. New theories have been postulated, and traditional theorems have been immortalised through the advancement of fields such as computer science. We are still reaping the benefits of the exhaustive endeavours of the pioneers who unknowingly enabled us to build intelligent machines of the future. It seems incredible that within less than a century, something that once lived only in the minds of titans has become something so inalienable from modern society. The world owes these scientists a great debt, writes Prof.Schmidhuber.

Read more about the history of AI here.

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AI Avant-Garde: 3 Pioneering Works That Revolutionised The Field - Analytics India Magazine

Administrative affairs | News releases

September 14, 2021

Sean Carr has been named Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX). Carr will assume the role in January 2022 and will be based at the Steve Ballmer Building, GIXs home in Bellevue, Washington.

GIX is a wonderful example of how the UW maximizes impact through partnership and academic innovation, said University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce. Seans unique blend of academic, strategic and administrative leadership experience, coupled with his commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship, make him the perfect leader to take GIX to the next level.

GIXexemplifies a next-generation educational model promoting academic innovationand international collaboration, said Tsinghua University President Qiu Yong. Tsinghuais delighted towelcome Seans appointment and looks forward to our continuing collaborationto build a more profound global influence of GIX.

Established in 2017 by the UW, Tsinghua University and Microsoft, GIX offers two graduate programs as well as professional learning programs that help industry leaders respond to rapid technological change, solve complex problems and innovate from within.

Sean Carr

Carrs appointment as a full-time, dedicated executive leader for GIX marks a key milestone for this unique educational partnership. Following his arrival early next year, he will be working closely with the GIX team, industry leaders and global partners to embark upon the next phase of impact for GIX. This will include growing its innovative masters programs, developing state-of-the-art executive training programs, and fostering an environment to support the incubation of innovative ideas and companies.

The vision for GIX is and always has been to build a future model for higher education in which universities, students and companies work collectively to push the boundaries of innovation, said Microsoft President Brad Smith. Sean is the right person to lead GIX into the future. He believes, like I do, in the power of project-based learning to help students tackle the real-world problems we face today.

I am humbled by the opportunity to be working with such an exceptional team of staff and faculty, as well as industry and academic partners, building together upon GIXs already-strong foundation, Carr said. At the same time, I am profoundly energized by the scale, scope and global impact we can achieve as we enable GIX to reach its full potential.

Carr currently serves as Executive Director of the Batten Institute for entrepreneurship, innovation and technology at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, where he has served as an administrator and faculty member since 2013. Prior to his academic career, he spent nearly a decade in the media industry withABC News andCNN. Sean holds a Ph.D. in management and an MBA from UVA Darden, a masters degree from Columbia University, as well as a bachelors degree from Northwestern University.

Shwetak Patel, the Washington Research Foundation Entrepreneurship Endowed Professor in Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UW, will continue in his interim executive director capacity until Carr arrives, before transitioning back to GIXs faculty lead and Chief Technology Officer.

# # #

CONTACT:Justin Horne, Global Innovation Exchange // Jhorne1@uw.edu

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Sean Carr named Executive Director and CEO of Global Innovation Exchange - UW News

SpaceX's latest launch, scheduled to lift off at8:02 p.m. Wednesday, carries with it a distinct Daytona Beach angle. The missionis ceiling-breaking in at least five ways. Here they are, in countdown fashion:

The Inspiration4 launch is most noteworthy because it will be the first space flight crewed by all civilians. Jared Isaacman, the commander, is a New Jersey-born billionaire businessman who bought his ride from SpaceX and its billionaire founder, Elon Musk.

Rocketmen: 2 ERAU grads will crew SpaceX Inspiration 4 rocket launch later this year

Highly ranked: Stetson, ERAU land in US News & World Report's 10 best regional universities in South

'Science is not a worksheet': Volusia high school students head outside for hands-on science

Isaacman's team includes:

This won't be the first time Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduates have gone into space. Six NASA astronauts and one Canadian astronaut attended ERAU.

Now, add two more to that list.

Isaacman, a high school dropout who founded his first company at age 11, graduated from Embry-Riddle's Worldwide Campus in 2011.

Sembroski graduated from ERAU's Worldwide Campusin 2007.

In a recent Q-and-A with Embry-Riddle staff, Sembroski said of his time there: "Going to Embry-Riddle opened up some new doors that I did not know even existed. Being able to explore interests in high-powered rocketry, government space policy, engineering, human factors, computer science, and even in stage production and drama, I was able to follow my passions and learn about the world of aerospace at a place that is like no other."

Their involvement in Inspiration4 has the campus abuzz.

Everyone at Embry-Riddle is excited about the mission and proud of our Eagles, Jared and Chris, university President Barry Butler said. We wish the whole Inspiration4 crew a very safe and successful mission. We thank them for being a source of inspiration to students who may wish to follow in their footsteps.

Inspiration4 will leave Earth aboard the Dragon spacecraftfrom Kennedy Space Centers historic Launch Complex 39A.

When the crew launches, they'll be launching to an orbit of about 575 kilometers (or nearly 360 miles)," Benjamin Reed, director of SpaceX, said at a news conference Tuesday. "This is significant and historic because it's going to be the highest that humans have gone into orbit since the Hubble servicingmission and, in fact, they'll be above the current orbit of the Hubble and the current orbit of the International

Space Station."

The flight is scheduled to circle Earth once every 90 minutes for three days, traveling at roughly 22 times the speed of sound. Splashdown is expected somewhere off the coast of Florida.

Want to know more? The crew is featured in a Netflix series, "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space."

The series profiles the crew and follows them on their training, including a hike to the top ofMt. Rainier and a flight in a fighter jet to simulate G forces.

The documentary is part of Inspiration4's mission: to inspire future generations to explore.

"Space to inspire has always been my motto as a teacher," Proctor said. "And when I was talking to my students, the thing about it was when I would say, "space to inspire," they were thinking outer space, but really, it's this space, your space. We all have this unique space that we carry with us everywhere we go, and getting to know what makes us passionate andhow to share our unique gifts with the world is so important."

The crew has been engaged in a fund-raising mission forSt. Jude Research Children's Hospital, which serves children with cancer and other diseases.Isaacman pledged to give a match of up to$100 million, making the goal $200 million.

With any kind of great endeavor like this comes a lot of responsibility," Isaacman said in a March interview onEmbry-Riddle's Aviation Outlook on YouTube. Youve got to achieve this great balance of making progress in advancing the world for a ton of great benefits … but you also have an obligation to take care of some of the problems and challenges were faced with today. This mission achieves balance on both."

We are trying to deliver a very powerful and inspiring message to the world, Isaacman said.

Butler, the ERAU president, said their philanthropic mission exemplifies "Eagle values," or being of service to one another.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to The Daytona Beach News-Journal using the link at the top of the page.

Excerpt from:

Countdown to SpaceX Inspiration4 launch: 5 things you should know, including ERAU's part - Daytona Beach News-Journal

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Woebot Health today announced the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board, a group of healthcare and technology leaders whose deep and diverse experience will help advance the companys clinical and research and development activities as it develops the next generation of digital therapeutics that engage people in their mental health.

The formation of our Scientific Advisory Board is a foundational next step as we continue to expand our overall body of research, as well as advance through the FDA regulatory process, said Chief Clinical Officer and Board Co-Chair, Athena Robinson. We look forward to leveraging our new board members expertise to enable a future where clinically-validated digital solutions are an integral part of a comprehensive ecosystem of care.

Woebot Health has pioneered the development of software designed to create and maintain a therapeutic working alliance a foundational concept to enable meaningful engagement and improved outcomes in mental health. Woebot, the companys digital coach, offers clinically-validated therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and is the basis for its automated coaching solutions for adults, postpartum women and adolescents as well as a pipeline of prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs).

Founding members of Woebot Healths Scientific Advisory Board include:

Stewart Agras, MD: Having founded one of the first programs in behavioral medicine in the United States, Dr. Agras is presently Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and is continuing his internally recognized research program in implementation science of evidence based psychotherapy. For much of his career Dr. Agras research interests have been in the investigation of behavior change in areas such as eating disorders, treatment compliance, essential hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors, and anxiety disorders. Dr. Agras has been editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. He has also served as the president of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT) and was the first president of the Society for Behavioral Medicine.

Charles Gross, PhD: A national C-suite leader in behavioral health with over three decades of management, operations and clinical experience, Dr. Gross clinical experience includes working in both inpatient and outpatient settings and in the delivery of therapeutic services and psychological testing. His career in behavioral health began with Kaiser Permanente, where he provided direct care and was responsible for behavioral health services in a large tri-state region in the United States. Dr. Gross extensive C-suite healthcare management experience features leadership positions with two of the nations largest health insurance companies; at one of them, he was the senior executive responsible for behavioral health operations for all commercial, Medicare and Medicaid benefit plans. Dr. Gross excels at combining healthcare strategy, operations, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities to advance whole person health via earlier access to behavioral health services. He is passionate about operationalizing evidence based healthcare that systematically addresses primary, secondary and tertiary behavioral health needs.

Dan Jurafsky, PhD: A Professor of Linguistics and Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, Dr. Jurafsky is the recipient of a 2002 MacArthur Fellowship, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the Linguistics Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also the co-author of the widely-used textbook "Speech and Language Processing" and co-creator of the first massively open online course in Natural Language Processing. Dr. Jurafskys trade book, "The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu," was a finalist for the 2015 James Beard Award. His research ranges widely across natural language processing as well as its applications to the behavioral and social sciences.

Jane Tiller, MBChB (MD), MPhil, MBA: Dr. Tiller is the Chief Medical Officer at Blackthorn Therapeutics. As a leader, Dr. Tiller combines scientific, medical, and business expertise to effectively manage high performing clinical organizations and lead all facets of drug development from clinical research to medical affairs. She has 14 years of experience leading pharmaceutical medical organizations in the United States and Europe, across multiple therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, immunology, virology, cardiovascular, immune-oncology, sleep medicine and pain. Her deep understanding of health care dynamics, behavioral health technologies and physician and patient needs is informed by 17 years of clinical and academic medical practice, including five years as clinical director at the Maudsley Hospital in London.

Athena Robinson, PhD: The Chief Clinical Officer at Woebot Health and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Stanfords School of Medicine. Dr. Robinson oversees the companys regulatory strategy and overall program of research, as well as the empirically-supported psychotherapeutic underpinnings of the Woebot Health products. Her areas of expertise include evidence-based digital therapeutics, implementation science, and treatment-outcome behavioral health research. She is the recipient of a number of research awards and fellowships, including from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Cancer Institute, the NCAA, and Stanford University, and is the author of dozens of original peer-reviewed research publications, articles, books and book chapters on subjects ranging from digital mental health technology to eating disorders and professional well being.

Timothy Mariano, MD, PhD, MSc: Vice President and Medical Director at Woebot Health, Board Co-Chair and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Mariano provides medical, clinical and regulatory leadership for Woebot Healths growing pipeline of prescription digital therapeutics and for its scientific partnerships. Before joining the company, he was medical director at Sage Therapeutics, where he led the clinical development, medical monitoring and regulatory strategy for several early and late-stage studies. Before that, he was an assistant psychiatrist at Brigham and Womens Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. A prolific researcher with dozens of articles published in peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Mariano has received research awards and fellowships from, among others, the Career Development Institute for Psychiatry, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the NIMH Outstanding Resident Award Program. He is a licensed psychiatrist practicing at the Providence VA Medical Center in Rhode Island and an investigator at its Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology (CfNN).

Alison Darcy, PhD: Founder and President of Woebot Health and Adjunct Faculty member in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department of Stanfords School of Medicine. A clinical research psychologist and health tech visionary, Dr. Darcys work to explore how digital treatments can help solve human problems began more than 20 years ago, when she created one of the first online support groups for people with eating disorders. That work led to PhD level studies in psychology at University College Dublin and post-doctoral training at Stanford School of Medicine and with the American Psychiatric Association. At Stanford, she also worked with AI pioneer Andrew Ng to explore the intersection of AI and healthcare, leading his Health Innovation Lab in Computer Science. A frequent speaker on digital therapeutics design and development, barriers to care and engagement, Dr. Darcy has authored more than 40 publications and been awarded research grants and contracts from the NIH, the Davis Foundation and APA.

About Woebot Health

Founded in 2017, Woebot Health has created relational technologies that underpin a new generation of digital therapeutics and tools for mental health. The companys proprietary relational agent, Woebot, is capable of quickly forming a bond with users and delivering human-like therapeutic encounters that are psychologically related, responsive to a persons dynamic state of health, and targeted using multidisciplinary tools. Woebot is at the heart of the companys AI-powered platform and the foundation for digital therapeutics and tools that seamlessly integrate within health ecosystems and solve for gaps along the health care journey. For more information, please visit woebothealth.com or follow Woebot on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Woebot Health Unveils Scientific Advisory Board - Business Wire