SEATTLE, Aug. 6, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates is scheduled to deliver the keynote presentation at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) tomorrow morning at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. IJCAI is the main international conference on artificial intelligence, held biennially, but only once every four years in North America. Gates’ speech,
“AI in the Computing Experience: Challenges and Opportunities,”
will address key challenges and opportunities for enhancing the computer user experience with innovations that leverage developments in artificial intelligence.
“AI is more than a movie,”
Gates said.
“It’s the next frontier in computing and usability. Microsoft is focusing more on research in this field than ever before. We’re building technologies that will enable computers to see, listen, speak and learn, so people can interact with them as naturally as they interact with their friends.”
Microsoft’s research division, Microsoft Research, is committed to addressing both principles and applications of AI, and includes research teams dedicated to automated decision-making, knowledge representation, information retrieval and search, machine learning and data mining, natural language, speech and handwriting recognition, and vision. Gates will highlight the role of AI in current Microsoft® products and demonstrate prototypes that rely on advances in artificial intelligence developed at Microsoft Research. The demonstrations will include these:
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SWISH (Searching With Information Structured Hierarchically). Automated clustering of Internet search results to form easy-to-browse natural categories (Susan Dumais, Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group, Microsoft Research)
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Notification Platform and Context Awareness. Automated sensing and reasoning about a user’s context and interests, and the use of such reasoning in notification and communication services (Eric Horvitz, with Nuria Oliver and summer intern Ashutosh Garg, Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group, Microsoft Research)
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Web Canvas and Dependency Networks. Data mining and exploratory data analysis (David Heckerman, Machine Learning and Applied Statistics Group, Microsoft Research)
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AskMSR. Automated question answering from information on the World Wide Web (Eric Brill, Machine Learning and Applied Statistics Group, Microsoft Research)
The IJCAI 2001 conference runs from Aug. 4 to 10 and brings together leading researchers from around the world in the many subfields that make up AI.
Press Information
Bill Gates’ keynote address will take place Aug. 7, from 11:40 a.m. to 12:40 p.m., in Ballroom 6, on the sixth floor of the Washington State Convention Center. Members of the press wishing to attend the keynote address and conference should check in at the registration booth at the Washington State Convention Center after 9 a.m. and fill out a registration form to obtain a press badge. Press kits will be available in the pressroom, room 309, on the third floor. Press badges allow access to any talks, addresses or other events. Tutorials and workshops are open only to invited and preregistered attendees.
About IJCAI 2001
IJCAI 2001 is part of a long tradition of biennial international conferences on AI begun in 1969. This year’s conference is sponsored by the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence Inc. ( http://www.ijcai.org/ ) and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and is co-sponsored by Boeing, Microsoft, NEC Research and SemanticEdge Technologies. The next IJCAI is scheduled to take place in Acapulco, Mexico, in 2003.
About AAAI
Founded in 1979, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is a nonprofit scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines. AAAI also aims to increase public understanding of artificial intelligence, improve the teaching and training of AI practitioners, and provide guidance for research planners and funders concerning the importance and potential of current AI developments and future directions.
About Microsoft Research
Established in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goal is to develop new technologies to simplify and enhance the user’s computing experience, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and facilitate the creation of new types of software. More information can be found at http://research.microsoft.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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