Tech Tuesday talks Artificial Intelligence
May 29, 2018
That was the hot topic of Tuesday's Tech Tuesday, coming only days after Algonquin College hosted the Impact AI conference.
“This is really an opportunity for us to introduce you to technology issues that we believe will have an impact on the College, our students, and our community,” said Doug Wotherspoon, Vice President, Innovation & Strategy. The guest speakers leading the discussion were John Omura, Managing Director - Design Centre, Applied Research and Innovation and AC grad and AI consultant, Tomas Kolafa.
Omura is currently running the Digital College Research Lab program, a place for innovators and companies to come and test their technologies in our environment. The lab is also a place to conduct research on our own institution. Omura told the audience about the ‘Murky Middle’ theory, which posits that 40 per cent of students with grades in the B to C range after their first year leave without graduating their program. Omura and his team are now in phase one of their Students at Risk Detection Project in which they aim to create a predictive model to identify this ‘Murky Middle’ at Algonquin College.
Kolafa is a graduate of AC’s Business - Management and Entrepreneurship program and is the founder of Growth Media, a marketing agency in Toronto that uses artificial intelligence. Kolafa’s most favourable definition of AI is from computer scientist and entrepreneur Andrew Ng: “AI is the new electricity.” He provided an overview of the history of AI, and concrete examples of how he applies AI at work. The live stream of the March 29 event will be available by the end of the day on May 30 at http://www.algonquincollege.com/live/.
The Tech Tuesday speaker series will be on temporary hiatus for the summer and will return in the fall. The 2018-19 series will take place in our new DARE District.