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Arup K. Chakraborty and Paula Hammond ’84, PhD ’93, have been named Institute Professors, the highest honor for MIT faculty members.

Chakraborty, the founding director of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), is a pioneer in applying computational techniques to immunology. His work has led to discoveries about the functioning of T cells and contributed to the development of potential vaccines for highly mutable pathogens such as HIV.

The Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chakraborty earned his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and his PhD from the University of Delaware. He was a postdoc at the University of Minnesota and joined the MIT faculty in 2005.

In addition to teaching in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, he is a founding steering committee member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, which aims to harness the immune system to cure and prevent disease. He has received five awards for classroom teaching, and 24 of his former trainees are now university faculty members in diverse fields. He serves on the Defense Science Board of the US Department of Defense, among others.

Chakraborty calls being named an Institute Professor his most meaningful honor. “This recognition really belongs to my inspiring faculty colleagues, the students in my classrooms whose immense curiosity makes me a better teacher, and the students and postdocs in my research group who have taught me so much,” he says.

Arup Chakraborty

Paula Hammond

Hammond, chair of MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is renowned for developing materials for medical and energy applications.

Hammond pioneered layer-by-layer assembly, which allows polymer layers with different properties to be laid down by alternately exposing a surface to positively and negatively charged particles. She has used the technique to develop nanoparticles and thin films for targeted drug delivery. Other polymer films she developed dramatically improve the efficiency of methanol fuel cells. She is also working on batteries and solar cells that self-assemble with the help of genetically engineered viruses.

Hammond earned her BS and PhD from MIT and a master’s degree at Georgia Tech. After a postdoc at Harvard, she joined MIT’s faculty in 1995. She received the MIT Committed to Caring Award in 2017–’18, the Henry Hill Lecturer Award in 2002, and the Junior Bose Faculty Award in 2000.

Hammond has also chaired or cochaired two committees that contributed landmark reports on gender and race at MIT: the Initiative for Faculty Race and Diversity and the Academic and Organizational Relationships Working Group. Outside MIT, she has served on the US Secretary of Energy Scientific Advisory Board, among others, and received honors including the Margaret H. Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer. 

“When I look at the list of current and past Institute Professors, I am both extremely humbled and greatly inspired by their achievements and impact on MIT and the greater world,” Hammond says. 

“At MIT, the distinction of Institute Professor designates the best of the best—and that is exactly how I would describe Paula Hammond and Arup Chakraborty,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif.

“Paula and Arup are great ambassadors for the

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By: Anne Trafton
Title: Two new Institute Professors
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/29/1025699/two-new-institute-professors/
Published Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2021 02:54:27 +0000

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The Download: COP28 controversy and the future of families

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This is today’s edition of The Download our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Why the UN climate talks are a moment of reckoning for oil and gas companies

The United Arab Emirates is one of the world’s largest oil producers. It’s also the site of this year’s UN COP28 climate summit, which kicks off later this week in Dubai.

It’s a controversial host, but the truth is that there’s massive potential for oil and gas companies to help address climate change, both by cleaning up their operations and by investing their considerable wealth and expertise into new technologies.

The problem is that these companies also have a vested interest in preserving the status quo. If they want to be part of a net-zero future, something will need to change—and soon. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

How reproductive technology can reverse population decline

Birth rates have been plummeting in wealthy countries, well below the “replacement” rate. Even in China, a dramatic downturn in the number of babies has officials scrambling, as its population growth turns negative.

So, what’s behind the baby bust and can new reproductive technology reverse the trend? MIT Technology Review is hosting a subscriber-only Roundtables discussion on how innovations from the lab could affect the future of families at 11am ET this morning, featuring Antonio Regalado, our biotechnology editor, and entrepreneur Martín Varsavsky, founder of fertility clinic Prelude Fertility. Don’t miss out—make sure you register now.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Instagram recommends sexual content to adults that follow kids

Test accounts were served risqué posts and disturbing videos. (WSJ $)
Meta was aware it had millions of underage users, a complaint alleges. (NYT $)

2  The first transatlantic flight powered by alternative fuels has taken off
Waste fats and corn leftovers are fueling the flight between London and New York. (BBC)
Here are the key phrases you need to know to understand climate change. (Vox)
Everything you need to know about the wild world of alternative jet fuels. (MIT Technology Review)

3 The United Arab Emirates planned to strike oil deals during COP28 
Which doesn’t seem terribly climate-friendly. (BBC)
AUAE AI firm is believed to have covertly worked with Chinese companies. (NYT $)
China’s own carbon emissions are on course to peak soon. (Economist $)

4 Starlink can only operate in Gaza with Israel’s approval
That’s according to Elon Musk, who is visiting Israel currently. (FT $) 

5 Foxconn is struggling to build iPhones in India
So the manufacturer started shipping over skilled workers from China. (Rest of World)

6 The world’s banana supply is in serious trouble
🍌
A deadly fungus is sweeping through crops—and there’s no known cure. (Bloomberg $)

7 Digital car keys don’t always work the way they’re supposed to
Which is a major problem if you can’t guarantee your vehicle is secure. (The Verge)

8 It’s not just you—dating is tough
But these tips can help to make it a less harrowing experience. (WP $)
Here’s how the net’s newest matchmakers help you find love. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Big dogs don’t live that long
🐶
But biotech company Loyal is hoping to change that with an experimental drug. (Wired $)
These scientists are working to extend the life span of pet dogs—and their owners. (MIT Technology Review)

10 The quiet bliss of living in an internet-free home
And how you can achieve it, too. (The Atlantic $)
How to log off. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“He ignored me royally, which is his privilege. And he lost almost all the money that he had invested.”

—Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, explains to students in Frankfurt how one of her sons lost his money on crypto, despite her repeated warnings, Reuters reports.

The big story

Are you ready to be a techno-optimist again?

February 2021

Back in 2001, MIT Technology Review picked 10 emerging areas of innovation that we promised would “change the world.” It was a time of peak techno-optimism.

We eschewed

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By: Rhiannon Williams
Title: The Download: COP28 controversy and the future of families
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/28/1083923/the-download-cop28-controversy-and-the-future-of-families/
Published Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2023 13:10:00 +0000

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Finding value in generative AI for financial services

UBS report cover

With tools such as ChatGPT, DALLE-2, and CodeStarter, generative AI has captured the public imagination in 2023. Unlike past technologies that have come and gone—think metaverse—this latest one looks set to stay. OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, is perhaps the best-known generative AI tool. It reached 100 million monthly active users in just two months after launch, surpassing even TikTok and Instagram in adoption speed, becoming the fastest-growing consumer application in history.

UBS report cover 1

According to a McKinsey report, generative AI could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually in value to the global economy. The banking industry was highlighted as among sectors that could see the biggest impact (as a percentage of their revenues) from generative AI. The technology “could deliver value equal to an additional $200 billion to $340 billion annually if the use cases were fully implemented,” says the report.

For businesses from every sector, the current challenge is to separate the hype that accompanies any new technology from the real and lasting value it may bring. This is a pressing issue for firms in financial services. The industry’s already extensive—and growing—use of digital tools makes it particularly likely to be affected by technology advances. This MIT Technology Review Insights report examines the early impact of generative AI within the financial sector, where it is starting to be applied, and the barriers that need to be overcome in the long run for its successful deployment.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

The main findings of this report are as follows:

Corporate deployment of generative AI in financial services is still largely nascent. The most active use cases revolve around cutting costs by freeing employees from low-value, repetitive work. Companies have begun deploying generative AI tools to automate time-consuming, tedious jobs, which previously required humans to assess unstructured information.
UBS web ready 5
There is extensive experimentation on potentially more disruptive tools, but signs of commercial deployment remain rare. Academics and banks are examining how generative AI could help in impactful areas including asset selection, improved simulations, and better understanding of asset correlation and tail risk—the probability that the asset performs far below or far above its average past performance. So far, however, a range of practical and regulatory challenges are impeding their commercial use.Legacy technology and talent shortages may slow adoption of generative AI tools, but only temporarily. Many financial services companies, especially large banks and insurers, still have substantial, aging information technology and data structures, potentially unfit for the use of modern applications. In recent years, however, the problem has eased with widespread digitalization and may continue to do so. As is the case with any new technology, talent with expertise specifically in generative AI is in short supply across the economy. For now, financial services companies appear to be training staff rather than bidding to recruit from a sparse specialist pool. That said, the difficulty in finding AI talent is already starting to ebb, a process that would mirror those seen with the rise of cloud and other new technologies.
UBS web ready 2
More difficult to overcome may be weaknesses in the technology

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By: MIT Technology Review Insights
Title: Finding value in generative AI for financial services
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/26/1083841/finding-value-in-generative-ai-for-financial-services/
Published Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 01:00:00 +0000

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The Download: unpacking OpenAI Q* hype, and X’s financial woes

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This is today’s edition of The Download our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Unpacking the hype around OpenAI’s rumored new Q* model

Ever since last week’s dramatic events at OpenAI, the rumor mill has been in overdrive about why the company’s board tried to oust CEO Sam Altman.

While we still don’t know all the details, there have been reports that researchers at OpenAI had made a “breakthrough” in AI that alarmed staff members. The claim is that they came up with a new way to make powerful AI systems and had created a new model, called Q* (pronounced Q star), that was able to perform grade-school level math.

Some at OpenAI reportedly believe this could be a breakthrough in the company’s quest to build artificial general intelligence, a much-hyped concept of an AI system that is smarter than humans.

So what’s actually going on? And why is grade-school math such a big deal? Our senior AI reporter Melissa Heikkilä called some experts to find out how big of a deal any such breakthrough would really be. Here’s what they had to say.

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 X is hemorrhaging millions in advertising revenue 
Internal documents show the company is in an even worse position than previously thought. (NYT $)
 Misinformation ‘super-spreaders’ on X are reportedly eligible for payouts from its ad revenue sharing program. (The Verge)
It’s not just you: tech billionaires really are becoming more unbearable. (The Guardian)

2 The brakes seem to now be off on AI development 
📈
With Sam Altman’s return to OpenAI, the ‘accelerationists’ have come out on top. (WSJ $)
Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever. (MIT Technology Review)

3 How Norway got heat pumps into two-thirds of its households
Mostly by making it the cheaper choice for people. (The Guardian)
Everything you need to know about the wild world of heat pumps. (MIT Technology Review)

4 How your social media feeds shape how you see the Israel-Gaza war
Masses of content are being pumped out, rarely with any nuance or historical understanding. (BBC)
China tried to keep kids off social media. Now the elderly are hooked. (Wired $)

5 US regulators have surprisingly little scope to enforce Amazon’s safety rules
As demonstrated by the measly $7,000 fine issued by Indiana after a worker was killed by warehouse machinery. (WP $)

6 How Ukraine is using advanced technologies on the battlefield 
The Pentagon is using the conflict as a testbed for some of the 800-odd AI-based projects it has in progress. (AP $)
Why business is booming for military AI startups. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Shein is trying to overhaul its image, with limited success
Its products seem too cheap to be ethically sourced—and it doesn’t take kindly to people pointing that out. (The Verge)
 Why my bittersweet relationship with Shein had to end. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Every app can be a dating app now 
💑
As people turn their backs on the traditional apps, they’re finding love in places like Yelp, Duolingo and Strava. (WSJ $)
+ Job sharing apps are also becoming more popular. (BBC)

9 People can’t get enough of work livestreams on TikTok
It’s mostly about the weirdly hypnotic quality of watching people doing tasks like manicures or frying eggs. (The Atlantic $)

10 A handy guide to time travel in the movies
Whether you prioritize scientific accuracy or entertainment value, this chart has got you covered. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“It’s in the AI industry’s interest to make people think that only the big players can do this—but it’s not true.”

—Ed Newton-Rex, who just resigned as VP of audio at Stability.AI, says the idea that generative AI models can only be built by scraping artists’ work is a myth in an interview with The Next Web. 

The big story

The YouTube baker fighting back against deadly “craft hacks”

rainbow glue coming out of a hotglue gun onto a toothbrush, surrounded by caution tape
STEPHANIE ARNETT/MITTR | ENVATO, GETTY

September 2022

Ann Reardon is probably the last person you’d

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By: Charlotte Jee
Title: The Download: unpacking OpenAI Q* hype, and X’s financial woes
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/27/1083894/the-download-openai-q-hype-x-financial-woes/
Published Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:11:00 +0000

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