Partner Event: How can artificial intelligence benefit society? About the event Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword in terms of its impact on society. While AI is rational, accurate, and selfless, never gets tired, and has enjoyed much success in many applications, such as in medical diagnosis, loan approval, autonomous vehicles, and board games such as go, etc., it is also considered a threat to society as it may be biased, cause loss of jobs, and of privacy. The University of Hong Kong, under the HKU-Cambridge AI to Advance Well-being and Society Research Platform, led by Prof. Victor OK Li and Dr. Jacqueline CK Lam, has been performing research on AI technologies and its application to pressing societal problems, especially those related to the environment and health. In this talk, we will describe how we can use AI to estimate and forecast air pollution, to help our citizens avoid bad air. This is important as poor air quality has become an increasingly critical challenge for many metropolitan cities, and has catastrophic physical and mental consequences on human health and quality of life. Recent studies also show that air pollution and Covid-19 infection are highly correlated. Due to the huge cost of air quality monitoring stations, available measured air quality information is very limited. For example, there are only 18 air quality monitoring stations in Hong Kong. Utilizing readily available urban data which influence air quality, such as vehicular traffic, building density, and wind direction, etc., we have developed Deep-AIR, an AI model to estimate and forecast air quality, with a resolution to the street level. To empower our citizens to avoid bad air, we have developed UMeAir, a smartphone app based on Deep-AIR, which not only displays estimated and forecasted air quality throughout the city, but also gives travel route advice so the citizens can avoid bad air and enjoy improved quality of life. Brief Speaker Bio: Victor O.K. Li received SB, SM, EE and ScD degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Prof. Li is Chair of Information Engineering and Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Sustainable Development at the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is the Director of the HKU-Cambridge Clean Energy and Environment Research Platform, and of the HKU-Cambridge AI to Advance Well-being and Society Research Platform, which are interdisciplinary collaborations with Cambridge University. From April to August 2019, he is Visiting Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Cambridge University. He was the Head of EEE, Assoc. Dean (Research) of Engineering and Managing Director of Versitech Ltd., the technology transfer and commercial arm of HKU. He serves on the board of Sunevision Holdings Ltd., listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Fano Labs Ltd., an award-winning artificial intelligence (AI) company specializing in speech and language technologies. Previously, he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, California, USA, and Director of the USC Communication Sciences Institute. His research interests include big data, AI, optimization techniques, and their applications to important societal problems. Sought by government, industry, and academic organizations, he has lectured and consulted extensively internationally. He has received numerous awards, including the PRC Ministry of Education Changjiang Chair Professorship at Tsinghua University, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Visiting Fellowship in Communications, the Croucher Foundation Senior Research Fellowship, and the Order of the Bronze Bauhinia Star, Government of the HKSAR. He is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, the IEEE, the IAE, and the HKIE. Jul 25 2022 00.00 - 23.59 Partner Event: How can artificial intelligence benefit society? This Tech Talk lecture series is a part of the Huawei Coffee House offering. Watch Online
Partner Event: How can artificial intelligence benefit society? About the event Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword in terms of its impact on society. While AI is rational, accurate, and selfless, never gets tired, and has enjoyed much success in many applications, such as in medical diagnosis, loan approval, autonomous vehicles, and board games such as go, etc., it is also considered a threat to society as it may be biased, cause loss of jobs, and of privacy. The University of Hong Kong, under the HKU-Cambridge AI to Advance Well-being and Society Research Platform, led by Prof. Victor OK Li and Dr. Jacqueline CK Lam, has been performing research on AI technologies and its application to pressing societal problems, especially those related to the environment and health. In this talk, we will describe how we can use AI to estimate and forecast air pollution, to help our citizens avoid bad air. This is important as poor air quality has become an increasingly critical challenge for many metropolitan cities, and has catastrophic physical and mental consequences on human health and quality of life. Recent studies also show that air pollution and Covid-19 infection are highly correlated. Due to the huge cost of air quality monitoring stations, available measured air quality information is very limited. For example, there are only 18 air quality monitoring stations in Hong Kong. Utilizing readily available urban data which influence air quality, such as vehicular traffic, building density, and wind direction, etc., we have developed Deep-AIR, an AI model to estimate and forecast air quality, with a resolution to the street level. To empower our citizens to avoid bad air, we have developed UMeAir, a smartphone app based on Deep-AIR, which not only displays estimated and forecasted air quality throughout the city, but also gives travel route advice so the citizens can avoid bad air and enjoy improved quality of life. Brief Speaker Bio: Victor O.K. Li received SB, SM, EE and ScD degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Prof. Li is Chair of Information Engineering and Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Sustainable Development at the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is the Director of the HKU-Cambridge Clean Energy and Environment Research Platform, and of the HKU-Cambridge AI to Advance Well-being and Society Research Platform, which are interdisciplinary collaborations with Cambridge University. From April to August 2019, he is Visiting Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Cambridge University. He was the Head of EEE, Assoc. Dean (Research) of Engineering and Managing Director of Versitech Ltd., the technology transfer and commercial arm of HKU. He serves on the board of Sunevision Holdings Ltd., listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Fano Labs Ltd., an award-winning artificial intelligence (AI) company specializing in speech and language technologies. Previously, he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, California, USA, and Director of the USC Communication Sciences Institute. His research interests include big data, AI, optimization techniques, and their applications to important societal problems. Sought by government, industry, and academic organizations, he has lectured and consulted extensively internationally. He has received numerous awards, including the PRC Ministry of Education Changjiang Chair Professorship at Tsinghua University, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Visiting Fellowship in Communications, the Croucher Foundation Senior Research Fellowship, and the Order of the Bronze Bauhinia Star, Government of the HKSAR. He is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, the IEEE, the IAE, and the HKIE. Jul 25 2022 00.00 - 23.59 Partner Event: How can artificial intelligence benefit society? This Tech Talk lecture series is a part of the Huawei Coffee House offering. Watch Online
Jul 25 2022 00.00 - 23.59 Partner Event: How can artificial intelligence benefit society? This Tech Talk lecture series is a part of the Huawei Coffee House offering.
