Columbia Engineering Dean Hosts AI Pioneer

AI pioneer and best-selling author Kai-Fu Lee recently sat down with Columbia Engineering Interim Dean Shih-Fu Chang for a wide-ranging conversation touching on key technologies, such as machine learning, cryptocurrencies, and virtual reality, and how they might shape our lives over the next 20 years.

Lee, whose new book “AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future” was recently published, is a seminal figure in AI technology, inventor of the first AI to defeat a world champion in the game Othello in 1988. Lee got his academic start in computer science with a bachelor’s from Columbia in 1983 and went on to be a president of Google China and executive at Microsoft, SGI, and Apple. He is currently CEO of Sinovation Ventures and president of Sinovation Ventures’ Artificial Intelligence Institute.

Dean Chang is also a professor of computer science and electrical engineering, as well as inaugural director of Columbia Center of Artificial Intelligence Technology. He is a world-renowned expert in computer vision, multimedia, and artificial intelligence.

The talk and audience questions were moderated by Jessica Tsoong BS’08, a tech entrepreneur and angel investor currently based in the Bay Area, California.