UNews - Sidney Shapiro

Examining the world of Generative AI the focus of next PUBlic Professor Series event at Slice Bar and Grill

trevor.kenney — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 18:06:40 +0000

*This event has reached capacity*

Generative AI wasn’t slowly introduced to society, rather it burst onto the scene and is already impacting our daily lives, from personalized recommendations to automated customer service and more — and its influence will only grow as technology advances.

Generative AI is a frontier technology that promises to transform industries and reshape our daily lives.

Amid the current hype and craze, it's essential to understand its potential and its practical challenges. How does it work, why does it work, and does it actually make sense? Dr. Sidney Shapiro, assistant professor of business analytics in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Dhillon School of Business, will explore the current state of Generative AI, its future possibilities and critically examine the impacts it could have on society at the next PUBlic Professor Series event — Will Generative AI Change the World? — on Thursday, Nov. 28, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Slice Bar and Grill. Coffee and tea will be available.

“Lately, AI has completely taken over and everybody’s talking about it,” says Shapiro. “I’m very excited to examine how AI is going to shape the future and the massive social change that are happening in every aspect of our lives because of AI.”

Generative AI is a frontier technology that promises to transform industries and reshape our daily lives. The potential applications are vast and varied, from creative content generation to advanced problem-solving capabilities. However, as with many technological advancements, it comes with ethical, social, environmental and practical challenges.

“It’s making huge societal changes, and people are worried about losing their jobs, how it could possibly change the workforce by unplugging people and plugging AI in,” says Shapiro. “I think there’s a lot to be hesitant about, based on how the technology works and what we can learn about it. In my talk, we will discuss how businesses and individuals can harness this technology responsibly and the implications for our future.”

Shapiro, who is also an adjunct assistant professor of computer science, has a wealth of experience in data science and business analytics. With over a decade of expertise in developing and automating data, he has worked extensively at the intersection of AI, data engineering and business intelligence. Formerly a data science manager in the occupational health and safety sector, Shapiro focuses on advancing theoretical and practical applications of data and business analytics. His research spans AI adoption trends, data privacy and the transformative potential of emerging technologies in business and education.

This is the third of six talks in the annual PUBlic Professor Series lectures which feature thought-provoking discussions on the most relevant topics of the day, bringing together a diverse group of experts and researchers from across the ULethbridge campus and into the community. Every talk is free of charge but registration is required as space is limited, specifically for this event, and few tickets remain. For those who cannot attend, the talk will be available on the ULethbridge YouTube channel following the presentation.

See more at ulethbridge.ca/research/public-professor.

Ending homelessness the first topic of engaging 2024-2025 PUBlic Professor Series

trevor.kenney — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:33:05 +0000

Six topics, six issues and six opportunities to engage with the experts who are at the forefront of research and fostering understanding — the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge presents the lineup for the 2024-25 PUBlic Professor Series.

Dr. Rebecca Schiff says hope is not lost in the struggle to end homelessness.

The annual lecture series designed to spark thought-provoking discussions on the most relevant topics of the day brings together a diverse group of experts and researchers from across campus and into the community. Every talk is free of charge.

“At its core, PUBlic Professor has always been about community outreach and allowing the broader community the opportunity to engage with our faculty members and tap into their insight and expertise,” says Dr. Dena McMartin, ULethbridge’s vice-president (research). “This year’s lineup of speakers is diverse in subject matter, extremely topical and one I’m really excited about. We have some very difficult issues that will hit close to home for many people and others that are more light and extremely fascinating. I think it shows the breadth of study here at ULethbridge and the opportunities our students enjoy every day.”

The first talk of the series, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge, features Dr. Rebecca Schiff discussing one of the most pressing issues of the day — Ending Homelessness.

The rate of homelessness has exploded across Canada, and Schiff has an important message: hope is not cancelled. For nearly two decades, Schiff has worked with individuals experiencing homelessness, as well as homelessness agencies and organizations across the country on diverse homelessness research and action-research projects to understand how we can move towards a society where everyone is safely housed.

“Unfortunately, over the past two to three years, homelessness has doubled, tripled or more in most communities across our country,” says Schiff. “In my talk, I’ll share ideas, thoughts, solutions and actions that we can take to ensure that we can end homelessness in Canada.”

A transdisciplinary scholar and administrator whose research spans the fields of health sciences, social sciences, humanities and environmental sciences, Schiff began her role as deputy provost in May 2024. Her research work has included funding from a wide array of sources, including the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). She has been a principal or co-applicant on 50-plus research projects totaling over $13 million in grants and has authored/co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications. She has also produced three books, with her most recent — Pandemic preparedness and homelessness: International lessons from COVID-19 — released in September 2024.

Ensuing talks take place in October, November and January, February and March 2025. The series will also be held at some new venues, including the Agri-Food Hub & Trade Centre, The Slice Bar and Grill, and Owl Acoustic Lounge.

“Some of the topics lend themselves well to new venues and hopefully we will welcome some new community members and ULethbridge alumni who have never experienced a PUBlic Professor presentation before,” adds McMartin.

The series lineup is as follows:

2024-25 PUBlic Professor Series

Ending Homelessness — Dr. Rebecca Schiff, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 — Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge

Fiat Lux (Or, why honey bees are practically magic) — Dr. Shelley Hoover, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 — Lethbridge & District Exhibition Agri-Food Hub & Trade Centre

Will Generative AI Change the World? — Dr. Sidney Shapiro, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 — The Slice Bar and Grill

Political and Policy Innovation in Alberta: The More Things Change . . . ? — Dr. Lars Hallstrom, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 — Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge

Sentimental Songs for Sentimental People — Dr. Emily Gale, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025 — Owl Acoustic Lounge

Does Reading Even Matter Anymore? — Dr. Robin Bright (BA ’79, BEd ’82, MEd ’88), Thursday, Mar. 27, 2025 — Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge

Artificial intelligence — bane or boon to humanity?

caroline.zentner — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 21:45:41 +0000

Artificial intelligence (AI) is certainly a hot topic — some people tout it as the next best thing for increasing productivity and reducing costs while others are concerned robots will be replacing workers. Every day brings a new headline, and the average person may be left to wonder whether AI is a good or bad thing.

It’s both, says Dr. Sidney Shapiro, a Dhillon School of Business assistant professor with expertise in data analysis and AI.

“Because there are a lot of unknowns, people are very worried about what it can do in the future, but they’re not looking at what it can do right now,” says Shapiro.

Right now, Shapiro says AI is in the midst of a big transition. Companies are looking at how to innovate and deliver more value for shareholders, that is, make more money by automating everything. But that can backfire, as has happened with self-checkouts.

Overall, AI is just a tool with benefits and drawbacks and the legal system hasn’t caught up with the implications of AI. Is AI poised to take over the world? Shapiro says that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. A house builder, for example, may find some AI tools helpful with certain aspects of the work, but humans are still needed to build the home.

“Until computers get much more powerful, it’s going to be difficult to have the vision of AI of what people want as something that completely transforms our lives,” Shapiro says. “The reality is that there’s a lot of hype in AI right now. And that hype overestimates what you can do with AI. It’s a useful tool, but it doesn’t replace what we can do as people, which is come up with original ideas.”

He says AI has been around for more than 40 years in various forms, and it has typically been used as a sorting tool. Analyzing data by looking for patterns in numbers can help businesses better target their advertising. For example, people in a certain demographic, like young parents, will likely be more receptive to ads about diapers.

What’s happened with AI more recently is the building of large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. By analyzing patterns in words, LLMs can scour their databases and come up with the next word in a sentence or the next paragraph in an essay.

“We’re looking at the underlying patterns and a great example of this is a resumé,” says Shapiro. “There are zillions of resumés online. An LLM can generate new information based on all the different possibilities it has in its database.”

While AI may have a large database to draw from, the data is limited to information that’s already known.

“What we do at a university is usually try to find new knowledge that doesn’t already exist and find new connections between data that nobody has thought of before,” he says. “Although it might be possible to calculate all the possibilities using AI, AI is generally not very good at coming up with new things it doesn’t already know about.”

Another issue with AI is that it takes a huge amount of power, so it’s not very sustainable. Every time a new question is asked, an LLM goes through a large number of possibilities to pick the answer that’s most likely. If you ask ChatGPT to write a poem, it will generate one. However, Shapiro says it’s not possible to know why that particular poem was the one generated.

“The philosophical question is ‘Could you take every great novel, remix them, press a button and another great novel, a new one, comes out?’” Shapiro says. “Theoretically, it’s possible but that hasn’t happened yet. So, you have to ask what makes a novel great and not just a collection of words. If you’re using something like ChatGPT to write an essay, it can regurgitate knowledge but not very well and not within the context of what you know.”

One of the controversies surrounding AI is where the data to train LLMs came from in the first place — the internet, newspapers or entire books? In December, CBC News reported it conducted an investigation and found at least 2,500 copyrighted books written by more than 1,200 Canadian authors were part of a dataset (now defunct) that was used to train AI. Authors have also launched lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging their work was used to train AI systems. The training of LLMs requires large amounts of content, so data — whether from the internet or social media — is like the new oil, Shapiro says.

While ChatGPT can help generate ideas for a student essay, educators are concerned about the effects it could have on student learning and cheating. Shapiro says some professors have changed their assignments in response. They may ask students to write an essay themselves, then generate the essay using ChatGPT and critique the two.

“We’ve gotten into a pattern of having students write essays and we’ve gotten away from oral exams and asking students to do live presentations,” he says. “Whether we are using AI in our classes or not, students will be using AI in their jobs when they graduate. The question is how we prepare students for the future so they understand the tools and can leverage them in a way that works.”

Anyone interested in speaking with Shapiro about AI can reach him at sidney.shapiro@uleth.ca.

UNews - Sidney Shapiro

Examining the world of Generative AI the focus of next PUBlic Professor Series event at Slice Bar and Grill

Related Topics

Ending homelessness the first topic of engaging 2024-2025 PUBlic Professor Series

Related Topics

Artificial intelligence — bane or boon to humanity?

Related Topics