As part of its development plan, the Chilean National Center for Artificial Intelligence (cenia.cl/en) invites interested individuals to apply for 3 Postdoc positions in AI and related areas.

Candidates must have a PhD in AI or related areas, such as cognitive robotics, neuroscience, cognitive science, mathematics, learning sciences, AI and education, AI pedagogical center, or related scientific areas. In line with our commitment to actively promote gender equality in the field of AI, the postdoctoral competition will include diversity criteria in its evaluation process.

The positions aim to conduct research activities in the following areas:

1. Deep Learning for Vision and Language: New theories and methods to further unlock the potential of Deep Learning and Generative AI to create advanced cognitive systems with a focus on vision, language, and multimodality.
2. Neuro-symbolic AI: Integration of deductive AI and machine learning-based AI, mutually invoking solutions from each part, injecting and utilizing semantics in current AI models.
3. Brain-inspired AI: Brings together scientists from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and AI to develop AI models based on brain mechanisms and cognitive functions, while also developing AI tools to understand human cognition.
4. Physics-based Machine Learning: Gathers mathematicians, physicists, and AI scientists to develop hybrid machine learning models based on physical laws to solve complex problems in science and engineering, generate scientific discoveries, and explore causal relationships.
5. Human-centered AI: New technologies for the fair, safe, and transparent use of AI in society, as well as methodologies to assess its impact. Promotes new tools for interpretable and explainable AI.

I. Eligibility Criteria:

Applicants must:

• Hold a PhD degree.
• Have proven research experience, including a record of publications.
• Have experience in developing or using AI tools.
• Be available to work full-time in Santiago of Chile,  joining Cenia preferably no later than April 2025 (exceptional cases will be considered).
• Not receive incentives or salaries from other sources of the Chilean Research and Development Agency (ANID).

II. Roles/Responsibilities of the Cenia Postdoc:

• Conduct research in Cenia’s areas of interest.
• Participate in Cenia’s applications for national and international funding.
• Apply for competitive grants as the lead researcher, including the Fondecyt Postdoctoral Competition 2025.

III. Documents to Submit with Application:

Phase 1: Submit the following documents to Cenia.

• An updated full CV, including a list of scientific publications.
• A statement of interest (maximum 2 pages), which should include:
  • Reasons for joining Cenia.
  • Main research topics of interest at Cenia.
  • Groups or individuals at Cenia you would like to collaborate with.
• Two letters of recommendation (free format).

Phase 2: Pre-selected candidates will be contacted to prepare a brief research proposal, in collaboration with Cenia’s researchers.

IV. Important Dates:

• Phase 1: October 18 to December 16  (late applications may be considered in exceptional cases).
• Phase 2: December 20 to January 20, 2025.
• Results announcement: Monday, January 27, 2025.

V. Benefits:

• Full-time contract (42 hours/week) for one year, renewable, with the possibility of obtaining a permanent contract as a Cenia Researcher.
• Monthly gross salary of CLP 2,500,000, plus financial incentives for securing competitive grants at national and international levels.
• Access to a stimulating research environment, excellent facilities, and cutting-edge computational resources in Latin America.
• Full-time dedication to research, with no teaching obligations.
• Support for grant applications.
• Opportunity to participate in Cenia’s scientific and technological transfer activities to the industrial and governmental sectors.
• Opportunity to participate in outreach and community engagement activities.

VI. About Cenia:

Cenia is one of the leading organizations dedicated to AI development in Chile and Latin America. Founded in 2021, its mission is to generate knowledge and technological solutions based on AI. Cenia works closely with universities, research centers, and companies both nationally and internationally, fostering interdisciplinary research and training specialized talent in AI. Additionally, Cenia stands out for its commitment to gender equity and inclusion, actively promoting diversity in all its projects and programs.

All documents should be sent to postdoc@cenia.cl, with the subject line: “Postdoc Application 2024”. For any questions to the application process send an email to talento@cenia.cl.

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The Chilean National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) is an independent research center funded by the Chilean government and private institutions, located in Santiago, Chile. The Center was founded by four of the main national universities: PUC, U. de Chile, UTFSM, and UAI, with a mission to be at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation in AI, serving as a core component of the Chilean National Policy for AI. 

As part of its development plan, Cenia invites applicants to apply for a research position at the level of Associate Researcher. This position involves conducting advanced research in AI and supporting the Center’s efforts in technological transfer to the industry. Main areas of expertise include, but are not limited to: visual recognition, NLP, reinforcement learning, self-supervision, metalearning, AI-based large-scale optimization, AI-based simulations, and cognitive robotics.  

Eligibility Criteria

Young researchers with a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Cognitive Robotics, or related areas. Given our commitment to promoting gender equality, we especially welcome applications from female candidates. 

Benefits

The position offers a full-time contract (42 hours per week). We offer a competitive salary that is above the local average, access to a dynamic research environment, state-of-the-art facilities, and advanced computing resources.  

Important dates

The application process is open until July 24th, 2024, with the position starting as soon as possible. 

Application

Applicants should send a CV, a brief letter of intent, and two recommendation letters to talento@cenia.cl. Please direct any questions to talento@cenia.cl. The email subject should be: ‘Cenia Researcher 2024’.

The application process is open until July 24th, 2024

The post Call for Application: Research position  appeared first on CENIA.

The National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia), as part of its development plan 2024, invites applications for the position of Postdoc in AI and related areas.

The applicant must have a PhD in topics related to Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Cognitive Robotics, Physics, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Data Science or related scientific areas. It is mandatory that applicants have previous experience in AI, either working in AI or having knowledge of AI tools. A good level of English is highly recommended.

The purpose of this position is to support the scientific activities of the center’s main research lines:

RL1 deep learning for vision and language: new theories and methods to continue to unlock the potential of deep learning and create advanced cognitive systems focusing on vision and language.

RL2 neuro-symbolic AI: integration of logic-probabilistic and deep learning-based AI, mutually invoking each other’s solutions, injecting and using semantics in deep learning.

RL3 AI inspired by brain: bring together scientists from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and AI to integrate knowledge about anatomical structures and cognitive operations of the brain to inspire AI research.

RL4 physics-based machine learning: bring together mathematicians, physicists, and AI scientists to exploit knowledge from the physical sciences to develop machine learning models based on causal relationships.

RL5 Human-centered AI: New technologies for a fair, safe and transparent use of AI in society, as well as methodologies to assess its impact on society. Promote new tools for interpretable and explainable AI.

Eligibility criteria:

Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree, research experience, and experience or expertise in the development or use of artificial intelligence tools.

Background information to be attached to the application:

1. Complete updated CV.
2. Letter of interest (1 page): State the reasons for joining Cenia.
3. 2-year work proposal (maximum 2 pages): This proposal must be sponsored by a Cenia researcher of any category, i.e. Principal Investigator, Associate Researcher or Researcher of the center. The sponsor will support the applicant in his/her work.
4. Two letters of recommendation (free format).
5. Letter from the Sponsor (fixed format).

All the documentation required for the application must be sent to postdoc@cenia.cl, as well as any doubts or questions about the position that may arise at the time of application. The subject of the email should be: Postdoc application.

Estimated process periods

Application Period:

• Starts: February 22
• Ends: March 30, 2024 until 23:59.

Evaluation of Applications:

• Document review: until April 20, 2024

Request for Letters of Recommendation

• Deadline: April 22nd

Interviews with pre-selected candidates:

• Deadline: April 30
• Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interviews with the Review Committee to discuss in detail their research proposal and experience.

Announcement of Results:

• Deadline: May 15th

Start of employment:

• End of May or deadline to be agreed

The dates indicated are estimates and may change depending on the contingencies of the research center.

Benefits:

• Full-time contract (44 hours/week) for one year extendable to a longer period.
• Gross monthly salary of $2,482,000 CLP (~ equivalent to 2,700 USD).
• Access to a stimulating research environment, excellent facilities and computing resources.
• Full-time dedication to research development, with no teaching obligations.
• Extra support and sponsorship when applying for complementary funding opportunities from the Chilean government.

We invite you to apply until March 30, 2024.

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The National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) invites female researchers interested in developing their postdoctoral research in AI topics to apply to be part of our center.

By Cenia’s commitment to actively promote gender equity in artificial intelligence (AI) research, we have issued a call for applications for female researchers only. Researchers must have a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Mathematics, Robotics, Computational Neuroscience, Physics, or related scientific areas. Applicants must have previous experience in AI, either working in AI or having knowledge of AI tools. A good level of English is highly recommended.

The purpose of this position is to support the scientific activities of the center’s main research lines:

RL1 deep learning for vision and language: new theories and methods to continue to unlock the potential of deep learning and create advanced cognitive systems focusing on vision and language.

RL2 neuro-symbolic AI: integration of logic-probabilistic and deep learning-based AI, mutually invoking each other’s solutions, injecting and using semantics in deep learning.

RL3 AI inspired by brain: bring together scientists from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and AI to integrate knowledge about anatomical structures and cognitive operations of the brain to inspire AI research.

RL4 physics-based machine learning: bring together mathematicians, physicists, and AI scientists to exploit knowledge from the physical sciences to develop machine learning models based on causal relationships.

RL5 Human-centered AI: New technologies for a fair, safe and transparent use of AI in society, as well as methodologies to assess its impact on society. Promote new tools for interpretable and explainable AI.

Eligibility criteria:

Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree, research experience, and experience or expertise in the development or use of artificial intelligence tools.

Background information to be attached to the application:

1. Complete updated CV.
2. Letter of interest (1 page): State the reasons for joining Cenia.
3. 2-year work proposal (maximum 2 pages): This proposal must be sponsored by a Cenia researcher of any category, i.e. Principal Investigator, Associate Researcher or Researcher of the center. The sponsor will support the applicant in his/her work.
4. Two letters of recommendation (free format).
5. Letter from the Sponsor (fixed format).

All the documentation required for the application must be sent to postdoc@cenia.cl, as well as any doubts or questions about the position that may arise at the time of application. The subject of the email should be: Postdoc application.

We invite you to apply until March 30, 2024.

Estimated Process Periods

Application Period:

• Starts: January 30.
• Ends: March 30, 2024 until 23:59.

Evaluation of Applications:

• Document review: until April 20, 2024

Request for Letters of Recommendation

• Deadline: April 22nd

Interviews with pre-selected candidates:

• Deadline: April 30
• Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interviews with the Review Committee to discuss in detail their research proposal and experience.

Announcement of Results:

• Deadline: May 15th

Start of employment:

• End of May or deadline to be agreed

The dates indicated are estimates and may change depending on the contingencies of the research center.

Benefits:

• Full-time contract (44 hours/week) for one year extendable to a longer period.
• Gross monthly salary of $2,482,000 CLP (~ equivalent to 2,700 USD).
• Access to a stimulating research environment, excellent facilities and computing resources.
• Full-time dedication to research development, with no teaching obligations.
• Extra support and sponsorship when applying for complementary funding opportunities from the Chilean government.

Important information

These will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for particular situations involving part-time.

The post Call application for female researchers: Artificial Intelligence Postdoctoral appeared first on CENIA.

¿Por qué Cenia podría interesarte?

El Centro Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial (CENIA) es una corporación pública privada, con financiamiento del concurso de centros basales de investigación, desarrollo y transferencia tecnológica proveniente de la Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo desde noviembre del año 2021.

Cenia busca poner la Inteligencia Artificial al servicio de las personas y transformar a Chile en un pilar del desarrollo científico y tecnológico de la IA en Latino América y el mundo.

Entendemos la importancia de las futuras generaciones para el desarrollo del país, por aquello hoy estamos en busca de una Gestora de Circuito de Promoción Vocacional, para que se desenvuelva como líder en la relación y vinculación con diferentes instituciones académicas.

En concordancia con nuestro compromiso de promover activamente la equidad de género en la industria STEM, hemos abierto este llamado dirigido solo a mujeres.

¿Qué realizarás?

• Establecer alianzas con comunidades educativas para realización de actividades de promoción de vocaciones y divulgación de IA entre Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes (NNA).
• Establecer canales de comunicación con universidades fundadoras y aliadas de Cenia para el reclutamiento de voluntarios y monitores.
• Establecer mecanismos de difusión masivos para actividades de promoción de vocaciones y divulgación de la IA en NNA y pregrado.
• Apoyar la gestión comunicacional, tanto de convocatoria como de difusión posterior, de actividades del circuito de promoción vocacional.
• Coordinar participación de voluntarios y monitores en actividades, realización de encuesta de satisfacción y pago de honorarios cuando corresponda.
• Colaborar con el montaje de actividades de promoción de vocaciones y divulgación de IA entre NNA.
• Apoyar al equipo de Vinculación con el Medio en otros elementos asociados al quehacer del área.

¿Qué estamos buscando?

• Deseable profesional con formación en áreas de pedagogía, trabajo social, periodismo, psicología, carreras de administración, o áreas afines.
• Experiencia laboral acreditable de  3 años en cargos similares.
• Experiencia acreditable de al menos 5 años en coordinación de voluntariados o grupos de personas.
• Experiencia en coordinación de equipos y en el diseño y ejecución de actividades y proyectos.
• Conocimiento del ecosistema de ciencia, tecnología, conocimiento e innovación.
• Experiencia nivel intermedio en Google Drive, especialmente Google Sheets y Presentaciones.
• Experiencia nivel medio con herramientas tecnológicas.
• Profesional con disponibilidad de incorporación inmediata y/o semi inmediata terminado el proceso de selección.

¿Qué ofrecemos?

• Remuneración total bruta de $1.100.000

Beneficios organización

?Sistema híbrido de trabajo: Home office combinado con jornada presencial.

?Cómodas oficinas a pasos del metro San Joaquín

?Acceso a bicicletero  y camerines.

?Estacionamiento precio preferencial

No dress code ¡Vístete como tú quieras!

?️ Días adicionales de vacaciones.

?️Vacaciones anticipadas, antes de cumplir 1 año de antigüedad.

?Día libre de cumpleaños.

Permisos sin goces de sueldo (máximo 3 meses)

?Desconexión anticipada para las fiestas.

?Día mudanza extra.

? 1 Día libre al año exámenes preventivos.

Post natal adicional para hombres (5 días)

?Reajuste salarial anual por IPC

Remuneración total de $1.100.000 bruta

¿Cómo postular? ¿Cómo es el proceso de selección?

Paso 1: Interesados/as completar información de postulación en el formulario disponible al final de la publicación y subir CV. Plazo de postulación hasta el 28 de junio del 2023. 

Paso 2: Si cumples con los requisitos base, te contactaremos para levantar información en detalle de tu postulación.

Paso 3: Si cumples con el perfil requerido, agendaremos una entrevista con el área de Talento y Cultura.

Paso 4: En caso de presentar las competencias necesarias, coordinaremos una entrevista con el Directo de Vinculación con el Medio.

Formulario de postulación

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Gonzalo Bustos, one of the researchers at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia), explains that the system will allow integrated monitoring and automated diagnosis of crop conditions.

Researchers at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) are developing a project to use artificial intelligence (AI) in phytosanitary control and integrated crop management. This project is in an exploratory stage and funding sources are being sought. Its objective is to rationalize the use of fertilizers and agrochemicals in the local ecosystem, which, when applied indiscriminately, end up affecting the fields and agricultural workers. Gonzalo Bustos, a Cenia expert, explains that the system will allow a more precise diagnosis of crop conditions in order to apply control measures only when and where they are required.

Agriculture is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to nitrogen fertilizers and other agrochemicals derived from fossil fuels.

As the researchers explain, this problem has already been understood in the large-scale agricultural sector in international markets, where for massive soybean and corn crops, among others, “numerous companies and institutions have promoted the use of AI and robotics for a more focused and sustainable management, decreasing the use of agrochemicals by up to 90%, in addition to reducing the use of water while maintaining productivity per hectare.”

This type of technology is already being used internationally, in large markets such as the United States, Europe, Brazil and Argentina, but in Chile we need solutions that are appropriate for our farms and the size of our agricultural operations.

Diagnosis

Scientists are developing a data acquisition and processing system based on a network of agricultural sensors and images from multispectral and thermal cameras. With this technology, it is possible to see characteristics that are not visible to the human eye, allowing early detection of unfavorable conditions (lack of water or nutrients) and the appearance of pests and diseases. In addition, there is a monitoring and management platform based on artificial intelligence models, using the data collected and other sources of information such as weather stations and satellite images, and a prototype of an agricultural robotic assistant for phytosanitary control in productive environments.

According to Bustos, there is little sensorization and analysis capacity in agricultural fields, so the plan is to install them on farms to monitor crops, such as wheat, rice, fruit or vegetables. Chile’s institute for agricultural research (Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA) is helping them, through an experimental field they own in the Ñuble region, in Chillán.

Once the sensors are installed, the idea is to extract the data, monitor them and understand the state of the crop: to know if it is well, if it has any pests, insects or weeds that are attacking it, its level of growth or nutrients, if it is stressed, or in a good type of soil, with the necessary humidity. “This stage corresponds to phytosanitary monitoring and the detection of abnormal conditions where it lives,” says Bustos.

Out of place

Weeds are plants that affect the growth of other plants. For example, if there is a wheat field and a corn plant appears, it is already considered out of place, since it takes away nutrients, water and light. The main problem is that this crop can be lost. Lorenzo León Gutiérrez, agronomist and researcher at INIA, points out that, annually, these weeds mean billions of dollars in losses for global agriculture.

The expert explains that in Chilean crops, on which we depend for food (such as rice, wheat or legumes), the pressure of weeds is very high, which increases the amount of agrochemicals needed to control them. “That is why from INIA, together with Cenia, we are working to reduce the usage rates of these products, and only how much it is required and where it is required with the use of technology that is, at the same time, affordable for farmers,” he says.

Action and management

Early identification of potential problems in a crop can help to manage them appropriately. Thus, for example, in the case of weeds, there are several options for its handling, according to the researcher. One of them corresponds to mechanical control, where the person in charge controls the weeds with weeding tools, or if the field is very large, with machinery that can even be automated. There is also the so-called “culture control”, a strategy that consists of providing the best conditions for the crop to grow rapidly, thus defending itself against weeds.

Another method of phytosanitary control is through pesticides, but they can be a big problem if used indiscriminately. “Chile has a higher level of use than the world average. That is why there are initiatives to reduce it, since when it is applied it contaminates the whole countryside (reaching groundwater, rivers, etc.),” explains Bustos. And he adds that people are the most affected. An article in the scientific journal, BMC Public Health (2020), estimates that 385 million cases of pesticide poisoning occur globally every year, with 11,000 deaths.

However, by not using them, harmful agents (insects, worms, for example) can proliferate and affect cultivated areas. On average, on a global scale, between 10% and 28% of crop production is lost due to pests, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“There we are faced with the fact that we want to avoid the use of pesticides because of the damage to people’s health and the environment, but, on the other hand, we have to look for strategies to prevent the loss of such a high level of agricultural production,” he says. In Chile alone, according to FAO, 700,000 people suffer from severe food insecurity. For this reason, the project proposes the use of technology that allows early detection of pests and diseases and much more precise application of these products.

“Some international experiences have shown that similar tactics can reduce the use of pesticides by up to 90%, because they are only applied to the area where the disease or the critical health situation of the crop is,” says Bustos. Such an initiative could help growers become more efficient with the use of resources. The use of pesticides or fertilizers is one of the highest costs in the production chain.

Data processing

The solution proposed by Cenia’s researchers seeks to integrate different sources of information with processing models, something that, according to the researchers, is not available in the market. There are products to identify crops, weeds and types of insects, based on photographs and AI, but none are applied in an integrated manner at the local level.

“We are thinking of a hybrid solution, that is, taking models that already exist, but integrating them into a single, centralized platform, which can be used by a group of agricultural producers for monitoring, control and management of crops in a more efficient way,” says Bustos.

Such a platform would be able to deliver performance indicators, health status and also provide recommendations. And unlike similar models used abroad, this one will be adapted to local conditions. “Our crops are very particular and existing solutions are not necessarily replicable. We have a wide variety of soils, climates and crops that we need to consider in our solutions,” explains Bustos.

Guidelines

The innovation seeks to integrate with the production sector, in order to know how field conditions are evolving and to establish guidelines or recommendations for action. In this way, scientists and workers could know how to help an infected plant to overcome the situation in the best way possible. “For that you need agricultural models, that help you understand the behavior of a crop in different conditions, whether it’s water, temperature, etc. And with the model we developed we can help them make decisions,” he says.

The system will provide them with abundant information, more accurate and with a higher level of processing than a person (although it will be supervised by humans). The operators will monitor the data, reviewing indicators and designing together with the software the best phytosanitary management and control measures.

By Cristián Yáñez W. Inés Llambías Comunicaciones

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Researchers at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence are currently working on a project that would make it possible to implement state-of-the-art technological tools to manage tertiary healthcare system operations.

Researchers from the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) estimated that the country would need an investment of $9 billion to support, through “AI” tools, the management of operating rooms in high complexity hospitals in Chile. Together with the quantification, the specialists have drawn up a project that would enable these tools to be used in one facility or in the entire public health system. Dr. Cristian Buc, researcher at Cenia and who leads the team that is currently exploring opportunities to implement the initiative in a real environment, emphasizes that the investment represents a minimal cost compared to the potential benefits in terms of efficiency and productivity in the surgical areas of the 16 high complexity hospitals operating in all the regions of the country.

“This is a problem that has been going on in Chile for years. If we look at the metrics of how many resources are invested in public health and its efficiency, it is basically an increase in money while the performance remains flat. That is to say, more and more resources are injected, but the frequency of operations, and their associated waiting list, remains the same,” says the specialist from the agency dependent on the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID).

According to a recent report by the National Productivity Commission, the management of operating rooms is one of the main challenges for public health and one of the most complex causes for resolving waiting lists. The report also highlights the urgency to incorporate new technological solutions into the system in order to strengthen its capacity to provide care. Artificial intelligence, the mainstay technology of the fourth industrial revolution, is expected to consolidate as a key support technology for clinical teams throughout the care process. On the one hand, by contributing to the diagnosis and early detection of diseases through the analysis of large amounts of health data such as medical history, medical images or clinical test results. On the other hand, it enables a more agile management of processes that in the past were an additional burden for professionals. It is therefore expected that the increasingly widespread adoption of new solutions will enable healthcare professionals to focus on more important tasks, such as spending more time with their patients, while improving the efficiency of their work.

A report by Universidad San Sebastián’s IPSUSS, using publicly available data provided by the Ministry of Health, estimated that if the local health system had used all its installed capacity between 2017 and 2019, annual surgeries would have practically doubled, reaching one million every twelve months. During these years, only 52% of available time slots were used, which could even cover the entire waiting list (around 270,000 surgeries).

Digital twins

The Universidad San Sebastián study pointed out that the main causes for the low use of operating rooms are as follows: 14% of the available time slots are lost due to lack of equipment, personnel or both (this equals 150 thousand major surgeries per year); the other operating rooms are used 70% of the time, which means a loss for the system of another 450 thousand surgeries, that are affected by the low compliance with the schedules.

The project designed by the specialists of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence has two levels. One, the creative level, is based on a tool called “digital twins,” and its adoption aims to model the operating room and the different players in this environment, as well as the different parameters involved in its management. “A digital twin is the representation of a physical object in a virtual world. It can be, for example, an airplane turbine. I model the turbine in a virtual space and by that I can model how this turbine works under different parameters, seeing the effect that these factors could have on the turbine`s lifecycle,” explains the researcher from the Chilean technology center.

According to Cristián Buc, this operates as a sort of machine of the future to make better decisions, that is, to move a group of professionals from one operating room to another, to call another anesthesiologist in case an operation has been extended by another hour, etc. Basically, to foresee what happens if this and that happens, maximizing the use of operating rooms. What happens, for example, if a specialist is stuck on a traffic jam from one hospital to another?

Incorporating technology could ensure that even with these contingencies, the surgeries scheduled will not be lost. The data to build these models will come from sensors installed in the operating room and equipment, and geolocation systems for professionals, allowing the technology to work in real time. “With the digital twins we can simulate at a speed that is incredibly faster than our real time. In a fraction of seconds, with the current state of the room, we can manage so that this time scheduled is not lost thanks to better decision making. The idea is precisely to maximize the use of operating rooms.”

Neural networks

Currently, the average waiting time for surgery in the Chilean public system is around 525 days. Several reports from organizations that have explored the phenomenon state that if the 52% of hours actually used were to reach a figure close to 70%, the impact of the problem could be much less. For this reason, the second level on which Chilean researchers have focused is the proactive one, in which they use optimization and deep learning models to create an adequate organization for the management of the operating rooms. In the event that this sequence breaks down, the “digital twins” come into action, providing recommendations to prevent these surgeries from being lost in the face of unavoidable system contingencies.

The design of an optimization model based on neural networks will require obtaining quality data to estimate the key parameters for its operation. In fact, both mechanisms (proactive and reactive approaches) work as a perfect complement to maximize available resources and prevent patients from continuing to wait when resources are available to attend to their emergencies.

Cenia researchers hope to have support from Minsal so that a project based on the proactive approach (spreadsheets based on optimized models) can be adopted in a local facility. “Neural network models can be useful in estimating surgery times and they already exist. To implement them, we just need to make parameter changes to see which of all the architectures is best for their operation,” noted the leader of this project.

In 2021, waiting lists for care in the Chilean healthcare system caused up to 30 thousand deaths, according to official figures. It is estimated that, in total, the number of users waiting for an appointment for specialists, GES pathologies or surgeries is 1.7 million people. Just over 15% of this percentage corresponds to the unavailability of operating rooms. “This is a gigantic number and causes an enormous number of deaths in the country. We hope that the technological solutions, which could make an important contribution to facing the great challenges of the health system, do not clash with the reality of the country, which will undoubtedly depend on good decisions by the authorities,” reflects the Cenia specialist.

Data, information and decisions

According to data from the Ministry of Health, 90% of the causes for the suspension of surgeries are avoidable. Previous studies for the same period found an average delay of 40 minutes in the beginning of the surgery and an early end of 1 hour and 42 minutes. For Cenia specialists, a large part of the problem is a consequence of the lack of flexibility in the management of physical, economic and human resources. This is also part of the recommendations made by the USS study.

“The efficiency problem arises from how the times are organized. What many entities in Chile do is that they create spreadsheets with hours for interventions based on the available personnel. But what happens if the hours are CANCELLED or can it be predicted? Well, there is no flexible process to use those cancelled slots, which are going to be left there completely available. It’s a huge opportunity cost to the system,” Buc said.

The most crucial part of the project is the collection of data and the availability of this information for everyone to access. The idea is that this spreadsheet can be viewed by all players, incorporating tools for geolocation of agents’ functions in care centers and calendar notifications similar to those available in e-mails.

For Cenia’s group of experts, the aim is to help the public sector strengthen its technological capabilities for the benefit of users. “The hospital of the future is a digital hospital at all levels. Our project in particular addresses the problem of operating rooms, but we are already looking in Europe at tools for scheduling appointments, and in the United States a digital hospital is being planned for all processes, which requires an incredible capacity to obtain data to generate models. We know that in the public sector we have a digitalization gap.” “We hope to try to contribute with this type of projects,” concluded Dr. Cristián Buc.

By Luis Francisco Sandoval. Agencia Inés Llambías Comunicaciones.

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The gaze and babbling of babies are part of the material with which a team from the National Center for Artificial Intelligence, Cenia, is working to create the world’s first early cognitive development curve. Comparable to the one used to measure aspects such as height and weight of children. The research is led by Marcela Peña, alternate director and scientist at Cenia, a pediatrician, with a PhD in Cognitive Sciences and Psycholinguistics from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales in Paris. She is providing data and materials she has collected during her career to Cenia’s engineers and mathematicians so that through Artificial Intelligence resources they can obtain the expected indicators. Basically, they are applying machine learning techniques.

This consists of classifying the materials available in categories that allow the construction of developmental curves. These should make it possible to identify the expected data and compare them with the data observed in infants and preschoolers who are in a stage of accelerated cognitive development which refers to the growth of a child’s ability to think and reason. It occurs in different ways from birth to adolescence, although its exponential nature is recognized in the first 3 years. The objective is to reach conclusions that allow the construction of development indicators with a high level of predictability, such as those that exist in relation to factors such as weight and height.

In collaboration with France, Canada and Spain

The idea is that the early cognitive development curves will help to detect difficulties in a timely manner and generate interventions to overcome them. Dr. Peña explains the scope of the model they are configuring: “When you take your young child to the doctor, they tell you, if he/she is 4 months old he/she should weigh between a certain amount and another, at 6 months old he/she should weigh between other amounts because the child grows. If your child is not in those ranges, either below or above, you have to do research and/or interventions to fix the eventual problems that come from being outside the expected weight ranges.”

She emphasizes that such a curve does not currently exist in the world in relation to early cognitive development: “in language, we know more or less what children should speak at a certain age, but we do not know how they should speak or babble. We have no precise scales for almost anything in relation to cognitive development.”

In this regard, she explains: “For example, if all children babble in a similar way, in terms of type of vocalization, melody, duration, intensity, etc., if we can build a curve with these data we can detect if any infant babbles atypically, which will alert us about the need to research and intervene early and in a timely manner. She says that some observations of these characteristics have been made in relation to the crying of infants at birth and it is known that if they cry in a different way from the standard, it can mean a disorder that should be treated.

In relation to the material available to them, Dr. Peña mentions “voice records of children who have participated in our vocalization studies, we also have many records of children performing linguistic tasks, and visual records in which the gaze is detected. For example, if a child prefers to look at faces that have an evident emotional expression, versus those that do not.”

Recently, they have worked with children around three years old, identifying some characteristics of their behavior: “When they come to the first session they don’t talk, because they don’t know the evaluator. Maybe because they say to themselves ‘You know what? I don’t want to talk.’ After the second session they say to themselves ‘This person is not so strange, I’m going to tell him something.’ From about the fourth session onwards they go off and talk, construct new and complex sentences and play with language.”

From the set of data obtained, they choose certain aspects towards which they will direct the search through Artificial Intelligence: “For example, one could determine whether what matters in the voice is the intonation, or the number of pauses, or the content, or the repetition of words.” From this point of view, the research being carried out is also pioneering, since it involves modeling language through speech, in circumstances where practically all the research that has been done through artificial intelligence up until now has been based on texts. Towards the future, Dr. Peña poses a greater challenge, to model the internal language that human beings incessantly develop in thought. She believes that the only method that could achieve results in this field is Artificial Intelligence.

Recently, they have worked with children around three years old, identifying some characteristics of their behavior: “When they come to the first session they don’t talk, because they don’t know the evaluator. Maybe because they say to themselves ‘You know what? I don’t want to talk.’ After the second session they say to themselves ‘This person is not so strange, I’m going to tell him something.’ From about the fourth session onwards they go off and talk, construct new and complex sentences and play with language.”

From the set of data obtained, they choose certain aspects towards which they will direct the search through Artificial Intelligence: “For example, one could determine whether what matters in the voice is the intonation, or the number of pauses, or the content, or the repetition of words.” From this point of view, the research being carried out is also pioneering, since it involves modeling language through speech, in circumstances where practically all the research that has been done through artificial intelligence up until now has been based on texts. Towards the future, Dr. Peña poses a greater challenge, to model the internal language that human beings incessantly develop in thought. She believes that the only method that could achieve results in this field is Artificial Intelligence.

Not with monkeys

The researcher recognizes that her vocational interests go back to her childhood and always strongly influenced by her emotions. It literally all started by playing, with a mother who was very playful. “We played that I was the doctor, and my brothers, one an engineer and the other a lawyer. Then we studied and although she never asked us for anything now I am a doctor, one of my brothers is an engineer and the other a lawyer. So somehow we thought we were still playing.”

When she left high school she did not have a definite choice for university studies. Those were the times of the Academic Aptitude Test and there were 17 careers that she could choose from. She chose all of them. She chose medicine and was accepted, but she believes she would have liked to “do anything I was given the opportunity to do. My parents were not rich, they were hard-working, super enthusiastic, loving, respectful and very cultured. They always took care of us and we were able to do what we wanted.”

Not with monkeys

The researcher recognizes that her vocational interests go back to her childhood and always strongly influenced by her emotions. It literally all started by playing, with a mother who was very playful. “We played that I was the doctor, and my brothers, one an engineer and the other a lawyer. Then we studied and although she never asked us for anything now I am a doctor, one of my brothers is an engineer and the other a lawyer. So somehow we thought we were still playing.”

When she left high school she did not have a definite choice for university studies. Those were the times of the Academic Aptitude Test and there were 17 careers that she could choose from. She chose all of them. She chose medicine and was accepted, but she believes she would have liked to “do anything I was given the opportunity to do. My parents were not rich, they were hard-working, super enthusiastic, loving, respectful and very cultured. They always took care of us and we were able to do what we wanted.”

With this concern, she started to find out where she could find more information on the subject. She obtained the President of the Republic scholarship and began to look for where to go. In this search she went through Yale and MIT. But everywhere she went she was told that to fulfill her purpose she had to work with monkeys. “There was no major research being done with premature children,” she says, “and working with monkeys was not possible for me. It was like looking at little children. When you came in, they would cling to the fence and look you in the eye. I felt like opening the door to let them escape, so it didn’t work out.”

20 million words less

After this experience she came into contact with one of the world’s leading authorities on the study of early cognitive development, Professor Jacques Mehler, who accepted her for further studies in France: “He told me wonderful things about children who knew how to think, even if they couldn’t speak. He passed me a book called ‘Born Knowing.’ I read it and was fascinated. I realized that for the first time I liked something desperately.”

She received her doctorate from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales in Paris, did a post-doctorate in Italy and returned to Chile. She built a team very committed to children, composed, among others, by Dr. Enrica Pittaluga, the speech therapist Orieta Palacios, the psychopedagogue Consuelo de la Riva, a large group of early childhood educators, psychologists and a dozen students.

She has worked with children who are treated at the Hospital Dr. Sótero del Río and who present different degrees of vulnerability. There he began a trajectory that is linked to the purpose of his current incursion into the field of Artificial Intelligence.

She was impressed by the fact that some of the children she worked with had up to 20 million fewer words than those from more affluent sectors: “I said to myself, how is this possible? How can someone in their environment not talk to them to increase their vocabulary? It was said that they could acquire it through television. But it has been proven that this media does not fulfill this function, fundamentally because TV is not interactive. It is not comparable to the effect of a person talking to the child.”

Her reflection led her to where she is now: “We have to do something to help develop language, so that girls and boys increase their vocabulary and communication skills. We have to make it so that people don’t have vocabulary limitations. Because they do have the capabilities to develop a large vocabulary. To that end, we must start early. Children don’t talk much until they are about two years old and suddenly they discover this tool, use it for everything and play with it. We have to explore how we can take advantage of that great ability to speak and understand to format their thinking, so that they can explain in words their emotions, their ideas, their beliefs, their judgments, their decisions, and they can fulfill themselves through language.”

By Gonzalo Rojas Donoso. Llambías Comunicaciones.

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«Is Artificial Intelligence sexist?» is the title of a new episode of Base Pública’s Poderosas, a show hosted by journalist Isabel Tolosa, with the participation of experts Paula Aguirre, Cenia’s main researcher and academic of the Institute of Mathematical and Computational Engineering (IMC UC); Gabriela Arriagada Bruneau, Cenia’s associate researcher, academic at UC’s Instituto de Éticas Aplicadas UC and at IMC UC, and Mónica Retamal, executive director at Fundación Kodea.

Click on the following link to see episode #10 of Poderosas: Is artificial intelligence sexist?

Why is it urgent to act to reduce the gender digital divide? ? This gap, referring to the disparity between men and women in the access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), may have several negative consequences for the development of new technologies based on artificial intelligence and the future of society in general.

? ?Biases in training data: AI relies on large data sets to learn and make decisions. If there is a digital gender gap, it is likely that less data will be available about women’s experiences and perspectives, as is currently the case. This leads to gender biases being present in the development of new algorithms, having detrimental consequences in a number of areas.

?‍? Scarcity of diverse talent in AI: If women have less access to education and opportunities in the technology field, there may be a shortage of diverse talent in the AI industry. Gender diversity is important for developing more equitable and responsive AI systems, as different perspectives can help identify and address biases and prejudices.

? Increasing gender gap: In an increasingly technology-driven world, people with digital skills have more opportunities for employment and participation in the digital economy. If women have less access to these skills and opportunities, they may be marginalized in terms of employment, income and social participation.

? Perpetuation of gender stereotypes: AI is increasingly being used in areas such as advertising, entertainment and automated decision making. If the digital gender gap is not addressed and reduced, stereotypical and biased representations may be perpetuated in new AI systems. This may reinforce traditional gender roles and challenge gender equity in society.

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Engineers Eugenio Herrera and Lucas Suarez created the “AraucarIA” application, a prototype based on thousands of images that can recreate anything from a car to a painting.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving forward by leaps and bounds and is covering various areas of society. This is the case of “AraucarIA”, an application based on this technology and developed by two engineers, Eugenio Herrera and Lucas Suárez, from the technology transfer team of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA). It is an app that allows creating images from text and drawings, like Dall-e, a similar international initiative, but for a fee. This will be free and has already been tested by children and adults.

AraucarIA is an interactive platform that allows you to draw and write what you want to create. You can start with simple sketches, which the system replicates with more complex images, and then re-enter something repeatedly to improve the result. Its developers emphasize that it is a creation process where the user actively participates by steering it in a certain direction. The data used came from the Lion2b database, a worldwide collaborative research center with two billion images. AraucarIA uses the “stable diffusion” model, with “a lot of engineering to make it work with drawings,” notes Herrera.  It is available in Spanish, German and other languages, thanks to a built-in translator. 

Record time

Eugenio Herrera, an engineer at Universidad Católica and a specialist in Machine Learning, says that they created the application after an invitation to participate in the Science Fair in La Moneda, Santiago (October 2022). There he came up with the idea of developing it, to bring AI closer to children and to entertain them with something more didactic, and as an exercise in creation. 

He states that they had only three weeks to work on the project and test it with users, and that they took it as a challenge. It would be useful for them to simulate what a development cycle would be like. The expert says that when he was a child, he dreamed of being able to draw and create masterpieces. And when the opportunity arose to fulfill his childhood dream, he decided to create the app. It is called AraucarIA, because they wanted to associate it with Chile, as it is a native tree, and it coincided that the last two letters match the IA (Artificial Intelligence for its acronym in Spanish.) 

Good reception

When they presented it at the science fair, it was used mostly by children. The success was so great that they were invited to show it in other places, for example, at the Puerto de Ideas Science Festival in Antofagasta this year. It does not require large resources for its operation. A notebook with a mouse is placed in these events, connected to a large screen, so that other people can see it. Herrera tells an anecdote he witnessed at the event, when he saw the children interacting with the system. He thought they did not know how to write, as they had a lot of difficulty with the keyboard.

Later he realized that this was not the case, but that it was uncomfortable for them, since they are used to using cell phones. For this reason, he believes that one of the next steps would be to develop the app for smartphones, and thus achieve a greater harmony with this age group. It was also well received by adults, and the engineer says that they liked it very much. They started by drawing simple elements and then made them more complex. Requests to the app ranged from objects in space to van Gogh-style paintings.

Difficulties

AraucarIA has a certain kind of complexity that allows it to create images with the data it receives. This model learned from a section of the Internet where they elaborate a kind of mind map with the information. However, it is not yet capable of doing everything you can imagine. A car is something simple to do, but the children who used it drew or wrote more difficult things, such as characters from series, new movies, or games. The system is limited to the database it uses, and if new elements come up, it probably won’t have them.

By not having it, the system generated random images, but there is where an opportunity arises. As a result of this, its creators generated a union of sensations, which made them think about how to improve it. “Once I wanted to draw a dinosaur and I realized that if I put specific colors, with the right shapes, or if I detailed it better in the text, it would come out better,” explains Herrera. This is called “fast engineering”, an AI concept that has to do with choosing the right words to make the models do what you want them to do.

Applications for the future

The Cenia researcher believes that his application could contribute to improve some areas of our daily life. One area where it could work is in school education, since he believes that it would make it easier for children to learn to draw. He details that, at the events, several teachers approached him to know if they could use the system to work in class with their students. Another area has to do with design. “I have a friend who wanted to decorate his house and used a feature that we would like to add later,” says the expert. This is the in painting functionality, where you take a real photo, select what you want to change and replace it with something in line with the original image.

In this case, he placed different furniture in the living room photo to see how it looked. It worked for him and he chose the one he liked best. For this reason, Herrara believes that this technology could be used for interior decoration or for any other sector that works with images and AI manipulation. He points out that AraucarIA simplifies the use of Photoshop, because the interface is simpler, with words, instead of a large number of buttons. With Lucas they want it to keep improving, to make it more intuitive, faster and friendlier.

In addition, they are looking to make it more scalable, so that more people can use it. Currently, they have to lease a machine, but they will try to optimize it to lower costs and keep it free to use. “I would love it to be open source, so that anyone can improve it and adapt it to their needs. It would help to encourage other people in Chile or Latin America to learn how to make an artificial intelligence application,” emphasizes Herrera. 

By Cristián Yáñez W. Agencia Inés Llambías Comunicaciones

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