Tech Unbound

A new AI developed at Georgia Tech, the Jill Social Agent, was designed and launched in 2019 to explicitly connect students quickly and get them working together. The agent was developed in part as a response to high attrition rates that plague online learning in general. We like to think of it as 'speed friending.' The lead architect for the Jill Social Agent, Ida Camacho, OMSCS ’19, discusses with us on Tech Unbound what the social agent can do. It’s a fascinating inside look at Camacho’s approach to building social structures for online education and her own journey as an OMSCS student. Ida Camacho: http://dilab.gatech.edu/ida-camacho/ [http://dilab.gatech.edu/ida-camacho/] Georgia Tech in the IBM AI XPrize Competition: http://emprize.gatech.edu/ [http://emprize.gatech.edu/] Transcript: Coming Soon >>>>>>>>>>>>>> CREDITS: Produced and hosted by Joshua Preston (Contact: jpreston@cc.gatech.edu [jpreston@cc.gatech.edu]) Audio engineering by Tim Trent and Stephen Jenkins Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Overriding Concern" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)] Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Rocket" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]

So esports, or electronic sports, have arrived. Want proof? Recent ABC telecasts aired Overwatch videogame matches on Saturday mornings – prime time for major sports specials – and the esports industry hit $1 billion in revenue in 2019. The fanbase is also projected to beat the NBA’s by some 100 million viewers in 2020. So what is this esports thing? Esports involve videogame players competing in various games for bragging rights and money with fans rooting for their favorites, a lot like traditional sports. Laura Levy, Georgia Tech’s resident expert in esports, sheds some light on this phenomenon and shares research efforts focused on this growing ecosystem. These include projects on the mental and physical health of players, technologies to support viewers and players, and how esports might be a definitive way to get the kids immersed in STEM. Laura Levy: https://lauralevy.science/ [https://lauralevy.science/] Transcript: Coming Soon >>>>>>>>>>>>>> CREDITS: Produced and hosted by Joshua Preston (Contact: jpreston@cc.gatech.edu [jpreston@cc.gatech.edu]) Audio engineering by Tim Trent and Stephen Jenkins Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Overriding Concern" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)] Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Rocket" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]

As far as first responder work goes, the firefighter profession tops the danger list. So can wearable computing tech help firefighters stay safer at emergency scenes or rescue the occasional cat in a tree? Researchers in the Participatory Publics Lab were able to provide an answer after studying two Georgia fire departments and their personnels’ use of a new commercial biometric device that measures vital signs while working. Lead researcher Alyssa Rumsey shares details about firefighter culture, their use of technology, and how, before breathing apparatuses, firefighters used their beards as filters when at a fire scene. Alyssa Rumsey: http://www.arumsey.com/ [http://www.arumsey.com/] News: https://gvu.gatech.edu/hg/item/625193 [https://gvu.gatech.edu/hg/item/625193] Research: https://ledantec.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/disfp1096-rumsey.pdf [https://ledantec.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/disfp1096-rumsey.pdf] Transcript: https://gvu.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/tu_e8_alyssarumsey.txt [https://gvu.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/tu_e8_alyssarumsey.txt] >>>>>>>>>>>>>> CREDITS: Produced and hosted by Joshua Preston (Contact: jpreston@cc.gatech.edu [jpreston@cc.gatech.edu]) Audio engineering by Tim Trent and Stephen Jenkins Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Overriding Concern" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)] Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Rocket" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]

A Georgia Tech group called the Expressive Machinery Lab is tackling a specific challenge in the artificial intelligence landscape - they have developed public exhibitions where the AI agents are front-and-center and people are able to create with them. Duri Long joins the Tech Unbound podcast to talk about this research, and she shares some wild anecdotes from her time as a show runner and curator of some of these AI-powered exhibits. Duri Long: http://www.durilong.com/ [http://www.durilong.com/] News: https://gvu.gatech.edu/hg/item/624291 [https://gvu.gatech.edu/hg/item/624291] Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1juBtnJjTk&list=PLqbYO_bYE2ClHihmAEMrP2FtqE6qpXnSF [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1juBtnJjTk&list=PLqbYO_bYE2ClHihmAEMrP2FtqE6qpXnSF] Research: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c69580e4b08011fc2337bf/t/5cc86c049b747a5b380f3a1c/1556638754394/Designing_Co_Creative_AI_for_Public_Spaces-CAMERA+READY.pdf [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c69580e4b08011fc2337bf/t/5cc86c049b747a5b380f3a1c/1556638754394/Designing_Co_Creative_AI_for_Public_Spaces-CAMERA+READY.pdf] Transcript: https://gvu.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/tu_e7.txt [https://gvu.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/tu_e7.txt] >>>>>>>>>>>>>> CREDITS: Produced and hosted by Joshua Preston (Contact: jpreston@cc.gatech.edu [jpreston@cc.gatech.edu]) Audio engineering by Tim Trent Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Overriding Concern" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)] Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Rocket" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]

People are going to have a wide variety of reactions to artificially intelligent systems when we start working with them regularly. In this episode, we discuss a new AI-enabled software system for video game developers and the reaction some gamedevs had to the AI creative partner when it was introduced into their workflow. We are joined by Matthew Guzdial, a newly minted Georgia Tech graduate with a Ph.D. in Computer Science. He shares part of his journey in computational creativity, details about some of the AI systems he’s created, and what an AI-enabled future might look like for people looking to get creative. Matthew Guzdial's website: http://guzdial.com/index.html [http://guzdial.com/index.html] Matthew's Ph.D. journey in one (interactive) picture: https://tabsoft.co/2YiL1Ir [https://tabsoft.co/2YiL1Ir] Read More: https://gvu.gatech.edu/hg/item/621721 [https://gvu.gatech.edu/hg/item/621721] Transcript: https://gvu.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/tu_e6_matthew_guzdial_final_human_transcribed.txt [https://gvu.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/tu_e6_matthew_guzdial_final_human_transcribed.txt] >>>>>>>>>>>>>> CREDITS: Produced and hosted by Joshua Preston (Contact: jpreston@cc.gatech.edu [jpreston@cc.gatech.edu]) Guest Co-Host: David Mitchell (Producer of The Interaction Hour Podcast) Audio engineering by Tim Trent Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Overriding Concern" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)] Music from https://filmmusic.io [https://filmmusic.io]: "Rocket" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com [https://incompetech.com]) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]