Helsinki and FCAI will host a new ELLIS unit for top AI research

Finnish artificial intelligence research received a significant acknowledgement. Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI will host one of the new European units of top AI research, as the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems will establish one of its first units in Finland.

The first ELLIS units were announced at the ELLIS assembly on 10 December as a part of the NeurIPS 2019 conference. From left to right: Yoshua Bengio, Bernhard Schölkopf, Nuria Olivier, Matthias Bethge, Max Welling, Director of FCAI Samuel Kaski, Sepp Hochreiter, and Yann LeCun.

ELLIS is a pan-European effort initiated in 2018 to secure the excellence of European machine learning research. It aims to ensure that Europe continues to be competitive with big economies, such as the US and China, and benefit from the newest findings of AI research. 

With the units, ELLIS wants to strengthen European AI research and collaboration between European researchers.

The unit will be founded in Aalto University and the University of Helsinki and hosted by the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI. Samuel Kaski, the Director of FCAI and Academy Professor at Aalto University, sees this as an excellent opportunity to boost basic AI research, which is the basis of all AI-related applications and impact. “Finland is very strong in AI research, and this new status is one indication of that.”

Professor Kaski believes that the ELLIS unit helps Finland to maintain its position as an attractive destination for top-level international researchers. It also gives current AI researchers in Finland more reasons to stay.

ELLIS aims to offer European researchers outstanding opportunities to carry out their research in Europe, and to nurture the next generation of young researchers in the important field of AI. All ELLIS units will arrange visits and events as well as provide funding for doctoral students in the ELLIS PhD programme.

The other cities selected to host a unit are Alicante, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Darmstadt, Delft, Freiburg, Linz, Lausanne, Leuven, Oxford, Prague, Saarbrücken, Tel Aviv, Tübingen, Vienna, and Zürich.

Read more
Press release at the ELLIS Society homepage

Further information
Samuel Kaski
Professor, Aalto University
Director, FCAI
Phone +358 50 3058 694
samuel.kaski at aalto.fi

Click photo to see more photos from the ELLIS assembly.

How ‘AI ready’ is Europe? How AI changes cancer research and treatment? These and many other topics were discussed at AI Day 2019

FCAI’s third annual AI Day organized on November 26 attracted hundreds of participants to discuss and hear about the newest trends in AI research.

Similar to the previous years, AI Day 2019 took place at Aalto University Campus in Otaniemi, Espoo. The event included two keynote sessions with eleven talks in total, over 90 poster and demo presentations, and the opening event of ‘Connecting the Dots’ AI exhibition by FCAI and Aalto Digi Platform.

FCAI’s Vice Director and HIIT Director Petri Myllymäki opened AI Day 2019 taking the time to present FCAI activities and research programmes. FCAI currently runs seven research programmes that do fundamental AI research on carefully selected high-impact areas.

Myllymäki said: “In addition to world-class research on new type of AI methods that will remove the biggest bottlenecks in wider application of AI, we need collaboration between AI researchers, other scientists, companies and public organisations in order to maximize impact for the Finnish industry and society at large - this is what the FCAI flagship is all about."

Petri Myllymäki opened AI Day 2019.

David Pool, Curious AI

The first keynote speaker David Pool, UK Managing Director at Curious AI, emphasized the increasingly important role of AI and machine learning for companies. He said that these days all big companies speak about artificial intelligence and machine learning, and he gave various examples of AI projects that have successfully moved from invention to implementation.

Pool talked about AI readiness across Europe and the region’s progress and potential, pointing out that Europe has six million professional developers – more than the US – but realises only about 12% of its full digital potential. According to Pool, Finland’s AI readiness is within the top 25% in the whole world, along with countries such as the US, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

A person in the audience asked Pool how can small countries like Finland compete with big economies, such as the US and China, and in his answer, Pool emphasized the role of data curation, effective data management, and Europe’s ability to focus on one or two areas of research.

Sampsa Hautaniemi

Jörg Tiedemann

Professor Sampsa Hautaniemi’s (University of Helsinki) spoke about AI in cancer research and treatment. Hautaniemi pointed out that, as not all patients respond to the same standard treatments, we need more personalized options, and in order to develop more personalized treatments, we need cancer research. AI methods are already part of cancer research and soon part of cancer treatment, too, he said.

Professor Jörg Tiedemann (University of Helsinki) spoke about language as the key factor of both human and artificial intelligence. Humans would not have reached their current level of intelligence without language that allows them to convey information to others in the way we can, and this, according to Tiedemann, is a motivation to study language in the context of AI.

Self-driving cars, health data usage, and beating poverty

The other keynote speakers were Tuomas Rintamäki, Matti Järvisalo, Antti Piirainen, Perttu Hämäläinen, Ella Peltonen, Juha Vesala, and Katja Hagman and Heli Hidén.

Rintamäki, Deep Learning Engineer at NVIDIA, explained in-depth what type of an AI infrastructure NVIDIA developes for self-driving cars. Professor Järvisalo (University of Helsinki) focused on the impact of automated reasoning, emphasizing the fact that AI and machine learning are not synonyms, and the importance of combining both symbolic fact-based and probabilistic views.

Piirainen is the Head of Communications at Findata and he introduced his organization’s work, a Social and Health Data Permit Authority that starts operating at the beginning of 2020. Findata will be a one-stop shop for secondary use of social and health data.

Professor Hämäläinen (Aalto University) presented simulation-based design in, for instance, games and user interfaces, while Dr Peltonen (University of Oulu, 6G Flagship) explained how we go towards edge-native AI. You can read more about the research conducted by Peltonen and her colleagues at FCAI and 6G Flagship here.

Vesala, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, brought up legal perspectives of AI speaking about safeguarding and promoting innovation, creativity, and competition. Hagman and Hidén from the City of Espoo challenged the audience to think about ways how technology, ecosystem, knowhow, and AI could help to beat increasing poverty in families with children.

The opening event of ‘Connecting the Dots’ AI exhibition, which included networking, music, food and drinks, provided a festive way to close this year’s AI Day. The exhibition is open until January 15, 2020.

Author: Anu Haapala / Aalto University
Photos: Matti Ahlgren / Aalto University

Click the photo below to see more photos from AI Day 2019!

Every­one has their secrets – ma­chine learn­ing needs to re­spect pri­vacy

Photo: Susan Heikkinen / University of Helsinki

How can we teach artificial intelligence to make unbiased decisions? How can we protect citizens’ privacy when processing extensive amounts of data? Questions such as these need answers before the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning can be extended further.

In spring 2018, inboxes filled to the point of frustration with messages from businesses and organisations announcing their measures related to the entry into force of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR by its common name.

The purpose of the regulation was to improve the privacy of citizens whose personal details are stored in various databases, a matter that is closely related to the research conducted by Associate Professor Antti Honkela at the University of Helsinki. At FCAI, Honkela heads a research programme focused on privacy-preserving and secure artificial intelligence.

He is specialised in machine learning that preserves privacy.

“Machine learning and artificial intelligence work best on massive repositories of data. These data often contain personal information that needs to be protected. The utilisation of machine learning must not jeopardise anyone’s privacy,” Honkela states.

Ap­plic­a­tion po­ten­tial in di­verse fields

Among other fields, machine learning could be used in medical research where extensive registers that contain medical records are employed as research data. Honkela himself has contributed to developing privacy-preserving machine learning techniques in targeting treatments to serious diseases.

“The aim has been to find a form of treatment best suited to individual patients. The same cure does not necessarily always work on a different cancer even though it might appear similar. The genome, for instance, can have an impact on the efficacy of various drugs. We have been developing techniques with which to work out answers from large datasets,” Honkela explains.

The utilisation of machine learning must not jeopardise anyone’s privacy

To have sufficient data at their disposal, researchers must be able to convince people that their research does not put the participants’ privacy at risk. It must be impossible to link sensitive information with individuals.

This is a problem Honkela is solving by developing methods in machine learning and statistics.

There is demand for machine learning that considers privacy also outside medical research. Potential for applications can be found in almost all areas of life, such as applications needed for research in various fields of science, the development of predictive text for mobile phones or banking systems.

We all have secrets

These days, the protection of privacy is a common topic. Honkela believes this is exactly as it should be.

“This is about a fundamental right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself specifies that each human being has an inviolable right to privacy,” he notes.

Honkela says that society’s overall ability to function is based on people having secrets that stay safe. “Someone who says they have nothing to hide hasn’t thought it through,” he adds.

For instance, they could consider whether a company that provides medical insurance should have access to the genome data of its clients. Or whether a business looking to recruit new employees should be able to read personal messages written by applicants.

Those living in Western democracies may find it hard to grasp the potential consequences of a totalitarian state gaining access to the private data of their citizens.

Ma­chines must not dis­crim­in­ate

In addition to solving problems related to privacy, the broader application of machine learning in various sectors of life requires that consideration is given to how to make artificial intelligence unbiased.

“If machine learning is used in decision-making, we have to be certain that it doesn’t discriminate against anyone subject to those decisions,” Honkela points out.

Examples of discriminative decisions made by artificial intelligence have already been seen. Amazon, the online shopping giant, started using artificial intelligence to support staff recruitment. Eventually, the system was found to discriminate against female applicants.

“Perhaps previous data were used to train the machine. If more men have been hired earlier, the system may have interpreted this as something being wrong with women,” Honkela speculates.

Equality would also be a key feature in credit decisions made by banks or in granting various social welfare subsidies.

“For us researchers, there is still a lot to do in terms of the non-discrimination principle. For the time being, we haven’t reached a consensus even on the theoretical level on how to integrate it with machine learning,” says Honkela.

Authored by Anu Vallinkoski / University of Helsinki

How ecological is AI? How to compose with a neural network? Come to AI exhibition to find out!

A new exhibition by Aalto Digi Platform and FCAI combines science and arts and sheds light on the history, state of art, and future of AI.

Aalto Digi Platform and FCAI are hosting a science and art exhibition that takes its visitors to a journey in the world of Artificial Intelligence. The Connecting the Dots exhibition, taking place at Aalto University’s campus in Espoo, Finland, aims to increase our understanding about the history of AI, the current state of art, and what the future holds.

“AI is already part of our everyday life, but what we can do with it and how it works is still quite a mystery to most people. With this exhibition, we hope to give answers to questions they may have,” says Saara Halmetoja, the exhibition coordinator from Aalto Digi Platform.

The exhibition is suitable for people of all ages. Visitors can step into a sound environment in which they can control the surrounding voices with their movements; compete against AI in a music game; and compose together with a neural network, among other activities.

The exhibition dives into the core of AI research. Visitors will see how a machine learns to classify and predict things, as well as how it forms sounds, pictures, text, and molecules. The exhibition presents robotics and shows how AI adapts to real-world situations.

Connecting the Dots discusses the history and ecological aspects of AI. While AI can help the clothing industry in getting rid of textile waste, artificial neural networks – mimicking human brain’s neural networks – consume enormous amounts of energy.

The exhibition brings together the diverse fields of Aalto University from natural sciences, technology, and architecture to design and arts. The scientists, artists, and students behind the exhibition come from diverse backgrounds; some of them are “pure” AI researchers, while others use AI tools in their scientific or artistic work.

According to Halmetoja, “if only certain types of people take part in discussions about AI, we will end up designing discriminatory technology. Therefore, we need to make sure that everyone in the society participates in these discussions”

Entrance to the Connecting the Dots exhibition is free and the event is open during Dipoli’s normal opening hours from November 27 until January 15. For larger groups, such as school groups, the minimum age recommendation is 12 years old. If you want to visit the exhibition with a group of people, please contact Saara Halmetoja, the exhibition coordinator, in advance.

Connecting the Dots exhibition - Dipoli, Otakaari 24, 01250 Espoo, Finland - November 27, 2019 - January 15, 2020

Further information
Saara Halmetoja
Exhibition Coordinator
Aalto Digi Platform
Phone +358 50 5720730
saara.halmetoja@aalto.fi

FCAI supports Finland’s EU presidency aims for AI

The Finnish Centre for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) supports Finland’s plans to focus on digital development and challenges of AI during the country’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Finland is bringing these topics up in its programme for the presidency period, and Samuel Kaski, the director of FCAI and professor at Aalto University Department of Computer Science, sees that as an excellent thing.

“The EU needs to launch new big things in addition to the recently decided super computers, one of which will be placed in Finland. During its presidency, Finland of course needs to work for the whole EU, but at the same time, it is necessary that it doesn’t forget to continue working on its own AI programme at full speed,” says Kaski.

AI, and data and platform economies are key factors contributing to Europe’s growing productivity, prosperity, and wellbeing.  According to Finland’s programme for the presidency, maintaining economic growth and employment will depend on the ability of business and industry to make full use of the potential offered by digital technologies.

During its presidency, Finland wants to promote discussion on AI and digitalisation with a view to developing tomorrow’s capabilities. The economic potential of digitalisation and AI applications is enormous, and Europeans need to be frontrunners in tapping into these developments, politicians write in the report.

Businesses and academic institutions in China, United States, and the rest of the world compete fiercely for top AI talent. Kaski points out that China and the US are currently investing large sums of money in AI research. Therefore, one of the greatest challenges of European AI research is to be competitive. If Finland and the rest of Europe react to this competition too late, they will end up suffering from a brain drain.

“Fortunately, Europe isn’t helpless at all. At this moment, European top AI research is about to organize into strong networks and the EU is currently working on an investment plan. Finland is a frontrunner with its AI strategy, the latest version of which was just published, and it has been strongly involved in creating networks,” according to Kaski.

Motivated research groups, vibrant startup culture, and cooperation with companies are Finland’s strengths

According to FCAI, Finland needs to invest in its existing top talent and attracting new talent in order to stay in the front line of the global AI competition.

Finland needs to enhance its position by strengthening existing top expertise in small-data research and strong traditions in B2B operations. Finnish business operations rely strongly on B2B businesses. Moreover, remodelling funding and research, and encouraging businesses to invest in AI is crucial. FCAI has sent these key messages also to the new government of Finland.

Similar points were brought up in the final report of Finland’s Artificial Intelligence Programme 2019, written by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. The report was recently published in English, and FCAI supports its initiatives.

The experts of the ministry write that Finland’s strengths include highly motivated research groups focusing on emerging sectors, a vibrant startup culture, and close cooperation between research institutions and companies. According to the report, FCAI is an excellent example of an institution that develops AI-based solutions for processing small amounts of data and solving problems of B2B companies. It has an important role in boosting Finland’s strengths.

Overall, the establishment of FCAI and the flagship funding granted by the Academy of Finland is one of the main actions Finland has already taken in order to ensure that AI can be adopted more quickly and easily. This is an important step towards training and attracting top talent to Finland. “Through FCAI, the Finnish leading-edge research can form one hub in the international competence network,” experts of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment write.

The complex challenges of AI applications and close cooperation with companies is at the core of FCAI’s operations. In order to having sufficient resources, these types of things are key factors in attracting top talent, experts of the ministry write.

Further information
Samuel Kaski
Director, FCAI
Professor, Aalto University Department of Computer Science
Phone +358 50 305 8694
samuel.kaski@aalto.fi

Finland will host one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world

One of the most competitive supercomputers in the world will be placed in Kajaani, Finland.

According to the CSC Datacenter that will host the new supercomputer, the new machine will be about ten times more powerful than the most powerful supercomputer currently in Europe.

Computing power is required in leading research in a wide range of disciplines, including artificial intelligence.

This type of supercomputing and data infrastructure helps position Europe as one of the world leaders in supercomputing. It allows European researchers to access top-level computing resources.

The decision to place the supercomputer in Finland was made by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, a high performance computing initiative supported by the European countries and the European Union.

More information in the press release by the CSC Datacenter