Menlo Park, California — This year marks the 50th anniversary of artificial intelligence. Much has been achieved to date, and there are many exciting developments in the field today. Many of the leading pioneers, researchers, and programmers in the field will congregate July 16-20 in Boston at The National Conference on Artificial Intelligence to celebrate what has been achieved, what is happening now, and the promise of the future.
AAAI-06 Conference a treasure trove of accomplishments
Since the American Association for Artificial Intelligence hosted the first National Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1980, this conference has been a central forum for AI researchers. The sum of the conferences’ proceedings is a treasure trove of accomplishments and evolution in the field.
This year is no exception with its broad, diverse program offerings. In addition to AAAI-06 Workshops, Tutorials, Technical Papers, Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition, Game Competition, Intelligent Systems Demonstrations, and Exhibitors’ Showcase, and co-located Innovative Applications of AI (IAAI-06) conference, some highlights of the conference include:
- Keynote Speaker is Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the World Wide Web Consortium and creator of the World Wide Web. “It’s a coup to have Tim Berners-Lee as the keynote speaker this year,” says Alan Mackworth, President of AAAI, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Laboratory for Computational Intelligence at the University of British Columbia. “The Web has transformed our society, and AI plays a significant role in that transformation. The synergy between his concept of the semantic web and AI science and technology will further that transformation.”
- IAAI Invited Speakers include Sebastian Thrun, leader of the Stanford University team that won the DARPA Grand Challenge this past fall; and Neil Jacobstein, CEO of Teknowledge, whose talk is entitled “Electrifying Knowledge Work: 362 Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence 1989-2006.”
- AAAI Senior Members Track offers established researchers an opportunity to give a “big picture” talk on a well-developed body of research, an important new research area, or a thoughtful critique of trends in the field. These presentations are in contrast to regular conference papers, which usually focus on a specific contribution. Twelve papers have been accepted for this first-time track.
- Special Technical Track: Artificial Intelligence and the Web featuring the use of AI techniques, systems, and concepts on the Web.
- Special Technical Track: Integrated Intelligent Capabilities consisting of papers that report on theoretical or empirical studies that highlight the role of integration of multiple components in achieving intelligent behavior.
- AAAI Member Posters is a new forum that enables AAAI members to present and discuss their work based on a submitted abstract, rather than a regular AAAI paper. The poster session is intended to stimulate cross-fertilization and the free circulation of ideas.
- AAAI Nectar giving conference attendees an opportunity to learn about results from AAAI’s sister conferences in a new special track with 23 papers and 12 posters being presented.
AAAI continues its commitment to nurture the upcoming AI generation. Besides the workshops and tutorials, the conference includes the Students Abstracts and Poster Program, the Doctoral Consortium Program, a Volunteer Program offering a limited number of complimentary technical program registrations, and a Scholarship Program providing partial travel support.
Innovative Applications of AI conference: demonstrating AI’s maturity and vitality
AAAI initiated the Innovative Applications of AI awards and conference in 1989 to recognize new applications that solved real-world problems with substantial bottom-line impact. “The IAAI conference holds considerable significance for the 50th anniversary of AI,” says Bruce Porter, IAAI-06 conference chair and Director of the AI Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s living proof of the maturity and vitality of the field, which has successfully moved from academic research labs to practical applications in many environments.
“The conference will showcase six successful deployments of AI technologies that solve core problems in customer support, manufacturing, procurement, sourcing, hardware verification and power distribution,” he explains. “Each one involves a team of AI researchers and engineers identifying a practical problem in their company, applying AI methods to solve it, and then — and not insignificantly — working with corporate colleagues and customers to put the solution into practice. Some of these applications have resulted in millions of dollars in saved costs or new revenue.”
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