HIIT Special Seminar: Rong Zhu and Sumita Sharma

Milloin: 18. lokakuuta klo 13:00-15:45
Missä: verkossa ja T3, T-talo, Aalto-yliopisto (Konemiehentie 2, Espoo)

Rong Zhu: Uncertainty Exploration in Decision-Making

Abstract: Efficient exploration is central to decision-making due to the fundamental challenge posed by the exploration-exploitation dilemma. To address this, managing uncertainty is crucial. In this talk, several works on uncertainty exploration in the field of bandits and reinforcement learning are presented. These include a simple uncertainty measure for deep bandits, Bayesian modeling for cumulative and simple regret minimization problems, the issue of maximization bias, and more.

Bio: Rong J.B. Zhu is a tenure-track associate professor at the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence at Fudan University, China, since 2020. Previously, he served as an associate research scientist in the Department of Statistics at Columbia University, USA, from 2018 to 2020, and as an assistant professor at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences starting in 2012, where he obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics. His research interests include reinforcement learning, causal inference, statistical methods, and their applications to real-world problems.

Sumita Sharma: Age against the machine - Envisioning ethical technology futures with youth across the world

Abstract: With children's increasing everyday interactions with emerging technologies, such as AI-based systems, it is imperative to promote critical perspectives and reflections on everyday technology use. While technology literacy focuses on how such systems work, children also need to adopt a critical stance towards technology’s impact on them, on society at large, and on the environment. In this talk, I will present my research on critical AI literacy with children in Finland, India, Japan, and the USA, sharing my approaches to envisioning ethical technology futures. This work was part of the PAIZ project (https://interact.oulu.fi/paiz), funded by the Research Council of Finland. Building on this work, I will also discuss my future project—RAYS (Responsible AI Futures with Youth)—which will investigate how youth across the world envision technology's transformative potential in their everyday lives and in addressing global crises, both now and in the future.

Bio: Sumita Sharma is a postdoctoral researcher at the INTERACT Research Unit, University of Oulu. Through her Research Council of Finland-funded PAIZ project, she has worked on designing inclusive, ethical, and responsible technology futures with children in Finland, India, Japan, and the USA. During her doctoral research, she designed and developed gesture-based games for neurodiverse Indian children and investigated the use of collaborative technology in classroom environments for children living in urban slums and remote communities. Her work emphasizes overcoming socio-cultural barriers to empower children and activating them as future change-makers and leaders. Her research interests include participatory, speculative, and critical design, as well as designing for diversity and inclusion.