Eliza, the beyond AI Podcast

Episode Synopsis: In this first episode of season two we start off with a special episode recorded at the Halland Tech Week in Halmstad. The theme of the day was AI so of course we had to be there to check out what is going on within the AI scene in Halmstad and Halland. During the day we had the opportunity to talk to several of the interesting speakers and during this episode you get to hear snippets from the interviews with Carin Madsen Kollberg, who speaks about sustainability and AI. After that Emma Andersson gives us a sneak peak into how consultancies think about AI and how to find the right competencies. We had honor to speak to senior lecturer in cognitive neuroscience, Oscar MacGregor, and hear his perspectives on intelligence and AI. Anna Felländer was also in Halmstad and gave us a brief overview about the EU AI Act and how ethics and AI go together. And last but not least Pontus Wärnestål made a reappearance on the podcast to once again share his insight within the field of design and AI. And big thank you to Hi5 and Anna Petersson for inviting us and we are already looking forward to next year’s event.

Guests in this episode:
Carin Madsen Kollberg
Emma Andersson
Oscar MacGregor
Anna Felländer
Pontus Wärnestål
Anna Petersson

Links to Additional Information:
https://hallandtech.se/

Episode Synopsis: Olof Mogren, research leader at RISE, talks about some of the interesting projects he is involved in right now. We get to learn more about how AI can support researchers in understanding how nature changes and behaves through audio recordings and sound recognition. Listen to this episode to learn more about a fascinating technology that made us feel hopeful about the future.

Guest:
Olof Mogren
Senior Researcher at RISE

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: In this first episode of ELIZA AI News we will give some background on how the podcast and Halmstad university is connected to each other, we visit Pontus Wärnestål at the university who gives us an update on what courses are running right now. We also speak to Anna Peterson from HighFive to hear what she has to share about recent AI activities in Halmstad. And last but not least Johan Cedmar Brandstedt from HiQ and Tor Palm from HighFive joins the podcast to talk about things like Nightshade, Apple Vision and the Metaverse.

Additional Links:
High5 Halmstad
MAISTR

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: As an Associate Professor of Experience Design and Information, Andrea Resmini shares his interesting ideas and philosophy on what happens when digital environments merge with physical space. In this episode we talk about how physical space and the digital layer are constantly effecting each other and what that implies for people and business. What kind of products and services can we be expecting in the future? What makes sense for businesses and humans? And what learnings from our immediate physical environment can we bring into the digital realm? Andrea also gives us his perspective and explain to us the concept about the Metaverse and how it all connects to AI.

Guest:
Andrea Resmini
Associate Professor in Experience Design and Information at Halmstad University

Additional Guest Information:
https://andrearesmini.com

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: Have you heard about 0-click viruses and how does Sora stand against the new UN and EU legislation? And where could you find ethical GenAI models? If any of these subjects make you curious don’t miss out on our latest episode of ELIZA AI News where we report about AI both locally and globally – from Halmstad to the world.

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: What do the laws say about the new technologies we see in generative AI or also called degenerative AI? What kind of compensation can artists expect and how should you as a user relate to these new technologies. Johan Cedmar-Brandstedt gives us some refreshing perspectives on this discussion and how both companies and individuals are relating to the subject at the moment. Don’t miss out on this episode and please let us. know your opinion about GenAI/DeGenAI!

Guest:
Johan Cedar-Brandstedt
Business and Concept Development at HiQ

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: In this episode we have invited Albert Bifet who is here to talk about open source in relation to AI. He is currently a guest professor at Halmstad University and is known for his work and research on machine learning for data streams, a field which he has nearly 20 years of experience in. Albert has been working on the development of open source software like Moa, Weka and River. In this episode we both discuss the benefits and risks with open source – and what should be open and what not. We also talk about how the development of ML-algorithms have developed through the years.

Guest:
Albert Bifet
Guest Professor at Halmstad University

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: In this episode we have the honor to have Anna Felländer, the founder of anch.ai as a guest. Anna has a background as an economist and has worked both as an advisor for the government as well as a chief economist at Swedbank. In 2018 she founded anch.ai, which aims at helping companies to comply with AI regulations and develop AI ethically. In this conversation we cover both the new EU AI Act as well as why it is so important that we regulate and try to mitigate the risks with AI.

Guest:
Anna Felländer
CEO and Founder, anch.ai

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: In this episode, Tiago Cortinhal reflects on his extensive research journey during his PhD in computer vision. With a focus on autonomous vehicles, Tiago shares the challenges and discoveries from his numerous published works. He discusses how his research has explored integrating data from multiple sensors, such as LiDAR, to recover missing sensory information and enhance scene perception. Join Tiago as he humbly recounts the lessons learned, the research process, and the contributions his work has made to advancing autonomous systems.

Guest:
Tiago Cortinhal, PhD
Doctoral Thesis available from DiVA at Halmstad University

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: Mohammed Ghaith holds a PhD from Halmstad University in Sweden and is currently a postdoc researcher at the university. His research is focused on using Evolutionary Computation (EC) methods to design and optimize Deep Learning (DL) models. Mohammed Ghaith has developed feature selection, instance selection, and hyper-parameter tuning algorithms to improve the performance of DL models. Additionally, he has explored optimizing other design decisions of DL algorithms like loss functions for survival analysis and used EC algorithms to uncover insights about complex interactions between design choices for DL models in computer vision. His work is published in top journals (Expert Systems With Applications, Information Sciences), conferences (IEEE CEC, ACM GECCO, IEEE DSAA) within the field of AI and he has received a number of recognitions (2nd place in the ESREL 2020 conference AI competition) and awards (Global Swede 2017) for research excellence.

Guest:
Mohammad Ghaith Altarabichi
Postdoctoral Researcher at Halmstad University

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: (This episode is only available in Swedish) Did you miss Halland Tech Week in Halmstad this year? No worries! The ELIZA podcast was there to interview the speakers and keep you updated on all the latest news from the event. In this episode you get to hear Jonas Birgersson talk about the future of electricity, Sofia Tegelid about how robots can enhance the museum experience and Åsa Zetterberg on the digital future in Sweden.

Episode Synopsis: (This episode is only available in Swedish) In this episode you will hear Marcus Purens, from SVT, psychologist Sebastian Michel and Sophia Lagerholm from Delphi speak about how AI is affecting their different professions and what they think about automatisation.

Episode Synopsis: (This episode is only available in Swedish) In this episode we interview Pontus Wärnestål and Iida Höög about Sci-Fi literature and how it relates to today’s technological development. We also speak to Astrid Sjögren from AI Sweden who gives a lot of interesting recommendations on how you can deepen your knowledge about AI. 

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: Curious about how Spotify works behind the interface? In this episode, we chat with Tonia Danylenko, Senior ML Engineering Manager at Spotify, who explains how the platform’s recommendation system uses machine learning to personalize your listening experience. Tonia also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to work at Spotify, sharing insights on the company’s culture and offering advice for those interested in tech careers. We hope you enjoy the episode!

Guest:
Tonia Danylenko
Sr ML Engineering Manager, Spotify

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: Alexander holds a Dipl.-Ing(FH) degree in Engineering Informatics fromFH-WS (2013) and an MSc in Embedded and Intelligent Systems from Halmstad University (2018). He has completed his studies with a PhDin Artificial Intelligence from Halmstad University under the supervision of Sławomir Nowaczyk. His research interests are mainlyin the areas of Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and DataMining, with a deeper interest in Bandit algorithms in the mHealth domain. In this episode we hear him discuss his thesis. The thesis focuses on improving medication habits for people with high blood pressure by providing personalized advice, part of the “iMedA” project. It tackles challenges in identifying who needs help through health records, predicting medication habits, and offering useful advice despite unreliable information. The work also explores starting with good policies using existing data and addresses privacy concerns in recommendation systems. Key contributions include identifying and fixing measurement problems, developing prediction methods, creating new personalized advice approaches, improving decision-making algorithms, and exploring privacy protection techniques.

Guest:
Alexander Galozy
Postdoctoral Researcher at Halmstad University

Music:
All music in this podcast is made with AIVA

Episode Synopsis: This is a short trailer to launch “Eliza – The Beyond AI Podcast”. After a short introduction, we will tell you what inspired us to name the podcast “Eliza”, and we will explain the structure of each episode.

Episode Synopsis: Why is it important for designers to learn more about AI and what kind of problems arise as we approach this new design material? Pontus Wärnestål has recently released his new book “Designing AI-powered services,” which goes into depth on the subject of AI as a design material. Listen to this episode to learn more about all the different aspects of design and AI.
This episode was recorded in late 2022.

Guest:

Pontus Wärnestål
Associate Professor of Interaction Design at Halmstad University
Author and Public Speaker

Additional Guest Information:
https://warnestal.com/

Episode Synopsis: It is never too late to enjoy self-motivated learning for either personal or professional reasons. In this episode, we discuss the topic of lifelong learning and how education is changing from a traditional setting to an online and need-to-know basis. With us, we have Stefan Byttner, associate professor and head of the Department of Intelligent systems and Digital design, Halmstad University. He is also one of the main driving forces for promoting professional education.

Guest:
Stefan Byttner
Professor of AI/Machine Learning at Halmstad University

Additional Information:
Stefan Byttner on LinkedIn

Episode Synopsis: How do robots learn human behaviour? In this episode, we touch upon the technical aspects of how to actually teach robots behaviours, what deep learning means in this context and how neural networks work. With us, we have Eren Erdal Aksoy, associate professor of Halmstad university, who explains very well how AI can actually learn how to see and what computer vision is.

Guest:

Eren Erdal Aksoy
Associate Professor of Information Technology at Halmstad University

Additional Guest Information:
Eren Erdal Aksoy on LinkedIn
https://aksoyeren.github.io/

Episode Synopsis: How can AI generate Music? Can AI be creative? Is AI going to replace musicians? Today’s guest is Bob L. T. Sturm, who is an associate professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Bob will explain the Musaic project, which explores Artificial creativity in folk music.

Guest:

Bobby Lee Townsend Sturm
Associate Professor at KTH

Additional Guest Information:
Bobby Lee Townsend home page
Music at the Frontiers of Artificial Creativity and Criticism project

Guest:

Pontus Wärnestål
Associate Professor of Interaction Design at Halmstad University
Author and Public Speaker

Additional Guest Information:
https://warnestal.com/

Episode Synopsis: Since when have humans dreamt about creating AI? And do the stories we tell about technology have an effect on what we actually develop? In this episode, former guest Pontus Wärnestål revisits us to talk about AI and Sci-Fi.

Guest:
Martin Cooney
Associate Professor of Robotics at Halmstad University

Episode Synopsis: How do we humans relate to robots? Do we trust robots more than we would trust other humans? And where in society would it make sense to actually use robots to help with social interactions? In this episode, Martin Cooney shares with us his experiences from working with social robotics in a variety of different contexts.

Guest:
Anita Sant’Anna
Data Innovation Strategist

Episode Synopsis: How do you know if your company is ready to implement AI, and what kind of infrastructure and mindset would you need to have in place? Anita Sant’Anna is working with HighFive to help companies explore their AI-related ideas and quickly build prototypes to understand what AI could do for them. In this episode, she speaks about the startup scene and what to think about in order to have success with your innovative ideas.

Additional Guest Information:
HighFive in Halmstad

Guest:
Vaike Fors
Professor of Design Ethnography at Halmstad University

Episode Synopsis: In this episode, we have Professor in Design Ethnography at Halmstad University, Vaike Fors, with us. Vaike shares with us her exciting work within the interdisciplinary field of Human-Computer Interaction. Listen to learn more about how people learn to live with technology and how we, as businesses and society, can start building the products and services that people really need.

Additional Guest Information:
A Human Approach (AHA) Project
Vaike Fors on LinkedIn

Guest:
Philip D. Anderson
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Mass General Brigham Global Advisory
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

Episode Synopsis: What does data-driven health care mean, and what are the challenges when dealing with very sensitive data? Philip D. Andersson, emergency medicine physician, explains how technology can be helpful in the healthcare system but also elaborates on the challenges of collecting sensitive data from patients.

Additional Guest Information:
Health Data Centre at Halmstad University
Region Halland, Health Innovation (Swedish)

Guest:
Sahar Asadi, PhD
Director of AI Labs at King

Episode Synopsis: In this episode, we get to chat with Sahar Asadi, who leads AI research for game development. Sahar is really at the forefront of applicable AI and gives us a lot of insight into how AI is used today in order to speed up the development of games. At the end of the episode, Sahar also gives some perspective of where she thinks future development will take us, listen in to learn more!

Additional Guest Information:
Sahar Asahi on LinkedIn