Como os pacientes de ELA estão a ser ajudados pela IA | Catarina Farinha | TEDxFigueiroDosVinhos

Catarina Farinha's Background and Expertise

• Catarina Farinha, a speaker at TEDxFigueiroDosVinhos, is a biomedical engineer with a PhD in computational psychiatry.
• She works in the field of data and artificial intelligence (AI) and is passionate about her family and friends.

The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence

• Farinha traces the origins of AI back to Alan Turing's 1950 proposal of a machine capable of mimicking human intelligence.
• She explains the Turing Test, where a person interacts with a machine or a human without knowing which is which. The machine passes the test if it can convincingly mimic human intelligence.
• Farinha notes that it wasn't until 2014 that a machine successfully passed the Turing Test, demonstrating the significant progress made in AI.
• The text discusses the evolution of AI, specifically focusing on the development of neural networks and their applications.
• It explains how early AI models, like perceptrons, were limited in their capabilities and required more complex architectures and data to perform more complex tasks.
• The text highlights the importance of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) in training these complex models and the increasing availability of data for AI development.
• It introduces the concept of Transformers, a new architecture introduced in 2017, which significantly improved AI capabilities.
• The text mentions ChatGPT, a large language model based on the Transformer architecture, which gained immense popularity after its release in November 2022.
• It emphasizes the rapid adoption of ChatGPT, highlighting its user-friendly interface and ability to provide comprehensive and specific information in response to user queries.

Practical Applications of AI

• The text showcases ChatGPT's capabilities through an example of a user requesting information about the town of Sertã in Portugal.
• The speaker uses the example of a virtual assistant to illustrate the practical applications of AI. This assistant can provide information on various topics, such as music recommendations, travel tips, and even recipe ideas.

Ethical Concerns Surrounding AI

• The speaker acknowledges that AI is not without its flaws, highlighting two concerning examples.
• The first example involves an algorithm used in US hospitals that disadvantaged Black patients on kidney transplant waiting lists. This algorithm, based on historical data, perpetuated racial bias, potentially denying Black patients equal access to life-saving treatment.
• The second example involves Amazon's use of an algorithm for pre-screening job applications. This algorithm, trained on historical data, favored male candidates over female candidates, potentially perpetuating gender bias in hiring practices.
• The speaker also mentions the potential for AI image generation tools to reflect societal biases. For example, when asked to generate images of people cleaning, the tool predominantly produced images of women. Similarly, when asked to generate images of intelligent people, the tool often depicted white men in suits.
• The text discusses the ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI, particularly in the context of bias and environmental impact.

Addressing Ethical Concerns and Developing Responsible AI

• The speaker highlights the need for diverse teams of experts to address these issues and develop responsible AI solutions.
• The speaker introduces the "Center for Responsible Artificial Intelligence," a collaborative effort involving startups, research centers, and industry leaders.
• This center focuses on developing AI products that are fair, explainable, and environmentally sustainable.
• The speaker mentions specific examples of participating organizations, including the Champalimaud Foundation, the Instituto Superior Técnico, and the Priberam company.

AI for Communication: The Halo Device

• The speaker then focuses on a specific product developed by the center called "Rila," which aims to assist people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
• The speaker mentions Stephen Hawking as an example of someone who suffered from ALS.
• ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that affects muscles and communication abilities over time.
• Patients with ALS often rely on assistive devices like eye-tracking technology to communicate, but these devices can be challenging to use due to calibration issues and environmental factors.
• A startup called Ambeo, in collaboration with five research centers, is developing a new communication device called Halo that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to improve communication for ALS patients.
• The Halo device aims to address the limitations of current eye-tracking technology by using AI to interpret subtle facial movements, such as eyebrow raises, to enable communication.
• The team is working with Luís Oliveira, an ALS patient, to develop and test the Halo prototype.
• The goal is to make the Halo device accessible to more families affected by ALS.

Luís Oliveira's AI-Powered Communication System

• Luís, an ALS patient, is using AI to regain his voice and communicate. He can now send messages and interact with others through a system that uses electromyography to detect muscle contractions and AI Persona to generate personalized responses.
• AI Persona is a personalized AI model that learns about the user's preferences, relationships, and communication style. It uses this information to generate responses that are tailored to the specific situation and user.
• Luís's AI-powered communication system is not just a tool for him, but also a potential solution for other ALS patients. He is helping to pave the way for others to regain their voices and communicate more effectively.
• The system uses a model based on the Transformers architecture, similar to ChatGPT, but customized for the individual user. This allows for more natural and personalized communication.
• The system uses voice generation technology to recreate the user's original voice as closely as possible. This helps to make communication feel more personal and authentic.
• The project is a collaboration between the researchers and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. This partnership aims to develop innovative solutions for people with ALS and other communication challenges.
• The technology uses well-known models like ChatGPT to generate a voice for patients with ALS, like Luis, who lost his ability to speak.
• Luis's voice was generated using WhatsApp messages he sent before losing his voice, allowing him to communicate again using the Halo device.
• The goal is to make this technology more accessible to everyone in Portugal, as many current models are in Brazilian Portuguese.
• The project aims to expand to other diseases like Parkinson's, where speech can become slurred.
• The team emphasizes collaboration with families, as the technology is designed to help them.