Science fiction and superhero films portray brain-machine interfaces as malevolent robots that plug into human brains for fuel in The Matrix (top left) or as power-enhancing devices in X-Men (top right).

Brain-machine interfaces: Villainous gadgets or tools for next-gen superheroes?

Penn Today talked with Konrad Kording, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor whose group works at the interface of data science and neuroscience to better understand the human brain, to learn more about brain-machine interfaces and where real-world technologies and science fiction intersect.

Bioengineering
Neuroscience

Evolution, Emergence and the Brain

Lisa Miracchi, Aaron Roth, and Michael Kearns

The programming ethos

In a podcast conversation, Penn professors Michael Kearns, Aaron Roth, and Lisa Miracchi discuss fairness constraints put on algorithms, the perception of artificial intelligence as “value-neutral,” and the convergence of disciplines in trying to address outstanding questions about how to make algorithms more ethical.

Computer and Information Science

Social Norms for Algorithms

The virtual assistant

Artificial intelligence has permeated many corners of life, from consumer purchasing and media consumption to health care—sometimes in ways we don’t even know. Across campus, researchers like computer scientist Lyle Ungar are working to better understand how artificial intelligence affects everyday life now and in the future.

Bioengineering
Computer and Information Science

Social Norms for Algorithms

Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth at a chalkboard

The human driver

As the ability to harness the power of artificial intelligence grows, so does the need to consider the difficult decisions and trade-offs humans make about privacy, bias, ethics, and safety. Michael Kearns, Aaron Roth, Rakesh Vohra, and Christopher Yoo discuss building algorithms that reflect society’s values.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Law

Social Norms for Algorithms

A robot from Penn’s Rehabilitation Robotics Lab.

The brain in the machine

Michael Kearns and Shivani Agarwal provide insights into how computers learn, the current challenges of artificial intelligence research, and what the future holds for how machines might shape society in the future.

Computer and Information Science

Social Norms for Algorithms

Illustration of cars on a street, and a robot arm with code on a screen in the background

Bots, biases, and binge watching: How AI shapes the modern world

Penn Today produced a three-part series and podcast on artificial intelligence, with expertise from Warren Center affiliates in the School of Arts and Sciences, the Perelman School of Medicine, the Wharton School, Penn Law, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Law

Social Norms for Algorithms

Curbing Climate Change: 30 Solutions That Could Make an Impact

Penn Law's Cary Coglianese discuss the solutions offered by a new Penn-wide report on climate change that attempts to boil many challenges down to just 30 “policy-relevant and solution-oriented” proposals that can be applied at the local, state and national levels.

Law
Political Science

Ubiquity of Data

The Customer Centricity Playbook Wins Best Business Book Award

The Customer Centricity Playbook, the innovative guide from authors Peter Fader and Sarah Toms for companies to revolutionize the way they think about their customers, has been named a winner of a 2019 Digital Book Award.

Marketing

Ubiquity of Data

Gutmann and Moreno talk bioethics, health care in new book

The University’s president, a political philosopher, teamed up with a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor Jonathan Moreno to write “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die,” which hit the shelves at the end of August.

History and Sociology of Science
Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Philosophy

Ubiquity of Data

A molecular ‘atlas’ of animal development

In a new paper, Junhyong Kim and collaborators report the first detailed molecular characterization of how every cell changes during animal embryonic development. The work used the latest technology in the emergent field of single cell biology to profile more than 80,000 cells in the embryo of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Biology

Ubiquity of Data

News

Brain-machine interfaces: Villainous gadgets or tools for next-gen superheroes?

The programming ethos

The virtual assistant

The human driver

The brain in the machine

Bots, biases, and binge watching: How AI shapes the modern world

Curbing Climate Change: 30 Solutions That Could Make an Impact

The Customer Centricity Playbook Wins Best Business Book Award

Gutmann and Moreno talk bioethics, health care in new book

A molecular ‘atlas’ of animal development