Prof. Gianni's Research Updates

How do you define AI?

I define AI as a superpower that has the capability to make every single piece of information accessible as well as comprehensible. It is like a smart system. What AI does is take in large amounts of information and interpret that data for us based on our inputs. But it does have its demerits too.

Can you name at least three different sub-fields of AI?

• Machine Learning (ML): A method where computers learn from data and improve over time instead of following strict, hand-written rules.
• Deep Learning (DL): A complex layer of machine learning that uses digital "neural networks" modeled after the human brain to process data.
• Generative AI: Tools that build brand-new content like text, pictures, or music based on what they have learned from existing data.

AI has been around for about 70 years so far. Why is it booming right now?

AI is booming right now because three critical ingredients finally came together at the same time.

• Data: AI models learn by looking at examples. Decades ago, digitized data was scarce. Today, the internet, smartphones, and IoT devices generate massive datasets every second. We now have the billions of pages of text, images, and videos needed to train massive AI systems.
• Computing power: Early AI ran on standard central processing units (CPUs), which process tasks one by one. The breakthrough came when researchers realized that Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), originally built for 3D video games, could process thousands of mathematical calculations simultaneously.
• Algorithmic power: In 2017, researchers introduced a new mathematical architecture called the Transformer network. This breakthrough allowed AI to understand the context of words in relation to each other, rather than just looking at them one by one. This architecture forms the backbone of all modern large language models today.

Can you name at least three application sectors where robots are being widely employed? What are the reasons?

Robots are being widely employed in manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, and healthcare.

• Manufacturing: automotive assembly
• Manufacturing: precision welding
• Logistics and warehousing: sorting and packing systems

Can you identify three major challenges for a wheeled autonomous robot performing a 24h surveillance task in a large facility? (e.g., something like Mall of Qatar)

A wheeled autonomous robot performing 24-hour surveillance in a massive facility like the Mall of Qatar faces major physical, environmental, and operational hurdles.

• The challenge: The robot must navigate around hundreds of moving targets, including running children, distracted shoppers looking at their phones, strollers, and shopping carts.
• The complexity: Standard path-planning algorithms can suffer from "robot freezing," where the machine stops completely because it cannot find a clear, legally safe path through a dense crowd.