School of Technology professor Dr. Felipe Meneguzzi appointed as member of main Artificial Intelligence association in the world
Photo: Matheus Gomes
Having a degree in Computer Science, with a Master’s in the Graduate Program in Computer Science, both from PUCRS, and a PhD from King’s College London, Dr. Felipe Meneguzzi has been gaining tremendous success in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has been recently appointed as executive advisor of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the world’s largest AI entity, which has embraced major exponents in the field and now includes members from universities such as Oxford, MIT, Harvard and Yale. Meneguzzi is the first Brazilian appointed to be in the board.
With over 20 years of research experience in the field of AI, and having served as a visiting professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and the University of Melbourne, Australia, he has automatic planning as one of his research interests. “I’ve been studying goal recognition, that is, systems that try to identify what someone is trying to achieve”, he comments.
For Meneguzzi, the future of Artificial Intelligence lies in enhancing what human beings already do. “I don’t envision AI replacing people, but rather helping and enhancing the accomplishment of a certain task, a means to expand our mind,” he explains. The way he sees it, an example is the lack of information on networks, where human beings use AI maliciously to spread fake news, for example. “AI makes it possible to increase positive initiatives, but at the same time it can be used in a negative way”, he adds.
To his mind, autonomous cars, despite being a hotly debated topic, will not become a reality in the near future, either. These systems are based on machine learning that still needs to be developed and evaluated further. “What I see for the future is a decrease in the number of people doing the same task, but not tasks that will totally discard human beings. I usually say that I have a more positive view of AI,” he says.
As for AI in human activities, Meneguzzi also reflects that this presence should bring changes in society. “This will make us reflect more deeply on the dignity of the human being, on the significance of a decent work. People are going to reflect on these things more and more, in an effort to reassess humanity”, he adds.
About his appointment to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the School of Technology researcher is happy to be recognized by his peers outside Brazil. “I believe this opportunity has come from the influence I have amongst my contacts. For my career, as a researcher, I consider this nomination a major achievement in the area and I am proud to be among prestigious people”, he concludes.
