Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, state economic development and technology officials and other officials visited Northeastern’s Boston campus Thursday to learn from university professors how artificial intelligence can solve some of the state’s and the world’s most pressing problems.
“AI is a technology that has the potential to transform – not just the potential, it will “Technology is transforming every aspect of our lives,” Healey said at an event at the EXP research complex. “Massachusetts innovators, as we’ll see in today’s presentations, are already at the forefront.”
Provost David Madigan said Northeastern is “exactly the right place to talk about AI,” noting that AI research at the university is being used to detect cancers, track infant health, prevent climate change and much more.
“And all of this is with the goal of ethical and responsible AI,” Madigan said. “That’s a key theme of everything we do here at this university: how to harness this extraordinary technology for good.”
The event came ahead of a meeting at Northeastern of the Strategic Working Group on Artificial Intelligence led by Healey, who also attended the session.
The working group was created in February to study AI and generative artificial intelligence technologies and their impact on government, private companies, higher education institutions and citizens. It is composed of leaders from large companies, startups, universities, investors and non-profit organizations.
Northeast Osama Fayyad is a member of the working group and described his work as executive director of The Institute for Experiential AI at the university to those who were present.
Rupal PatelProfessor at the Khoury College of Computer Science and the Bouve College of Health Sciences, presented his work using AI to create custom synthesized voices for people with various health conditions.
Auroop Ganguly, Director of AI for Climate and Sustainability at The Institute for Experiential AIgave a presentation on how AI can help predict local flooding – particularly flooding around Boston’s Logan Airport – from extreme precipitation events.
Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Engineering Jennifer Dy She explained her research conducted at hospitals in New York and Boston using AI to detect skin cancer and treat patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“The advantage of being an AI specialist in Massachusetts, and Boston in particular, is that we have world-class hospitals that are heavily concentrated in the region,” Dy said.
“And thanks to advances in AI, we can do a lot of things together.”
Taskin Padir, Director of the Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Roboticsended the presentations by showing off a robotic arm with a chopstick-inspired gripper that can help seafood processors sort and grade scallops.
“We’re very fortunate to have you all here in Boston,” Healey told the teachers before she, Wu and Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao took turns operating the robot. “I know they’ll appreciate this in New Bedford.”
Healey said repeatedly at the event that she wants Massachusetts to become a global center for applied AI — finding real-world applications for AI — just as the state is a center for the life sciences.
She said a $2.8 billion economic development bond bill she proposed, called the Mass Leads Act, is essential to that goal.
The bill provides $100 million to leverage AI to drive technological advancements in the life sciences, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and robotics sectors, support the incubation of AI startups, advance the development of AI software and hardware, and support commercialization activities. This funding would also encourage public-private partnerships between industry and academia.
“It’s about taking that knowledge and making it practical,” Healey said.
Universities like Northeastern are also crucial to achieving this goal, as Healey mentioned when referring to the Huskies who recently completed projects for the state through the AI for Impact cooperative program.
“What I’ve seen with students is that it can just exponentially reduce the time it takes to get answers to people,” Healey said, referring to one of the students’ projects, which included work for The adapted transport service Ride And Streamlining the Grants Process with the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
“It’s going to allow for better service and better responses to customers, whether it’s people looking for grants, people looking for permits, you know, or other customers that we serve as a government and that’s really exciting,” she said.
“Our universities are truly our secret sauce, and they have been for many sectors of our economy,” Hao added.
She noted that Massachusetts leads the nation in AI graduates per capita and is among the states richest in AI graduates.
“Our universities have talent,” Hao continued. “By working closely with our cities, our government and all our different private sectors, we can really play a leading role in this area.”
