A scientific robot that can win a Nobel Prize. A virtual city clone for predicting scenarios. A robot for screening and diagnosing different types of cancer. These are some of the projects exhibited at the third scientific forum of the ValgrAI Foundation at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, which welcomed more than 400 participants.
A panel of artificial intelligence experts showcased research and its application in various fields, particularly focused on scientific research and health, with presentations on its ethical impact and future challenges. Led by ValgraAI Executive Director Ana Cidad, the event was attended by ValgraAI CEO Vicent Botti, Generalitat Valenciana Science and Research Director Rafael Sebastián and UPV Vice-Rector for Research, Belén Picó, who highlighted the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) and support, which the artificial intelligence research developed in the Valencian Community represents for a number of sectors.
One of the most anticipated presentations was that of Hiroaki Kitano, CEO of SonyAI and Vice President of Sony Corporation, who under the title “Nobel Turing Challenge: Creating the Engine for Scientific Discovery” emphasized the importance of accelerating the pace of scientific discovery, stating that this effort requires not only a deep understanding of fields of study, but also the very essence of scientific discoveries. According to Hiroaki Kitano, it is essential to create a “science of science” that can be practically implemented using AI systems. Kitano explained that “artificial intelligence scientists” may not resemble human scientists in their processes, and that this alternative form of science could overcome the cognitive and sociological limitations that currently constrain scientific practice. This approach could give rise to a hybrid form of science that would combine human and artificial intelligence efforts and take disciplines such as systems biology and other sciences to a new level.
The project he leads, the “Nobel Turing Challenge”, aims to develop a highly autonomous artificial intelligence system capable of performing world-class science, indistinguishable from the quality produced by the best human scientists capable of winning a Nobel Prize. With this vision, Kitano envisions a future in which collaboration between humans and machines will not only increase the speed of scientific discovery, but also redefine the very nature of scientific research.
After the appearance of the Head of Artificial Intelligence at Sony, Ernesto Faubel, Head of LDT CitiVERSE EDIC and Valencia City Council, who together with Patricia Tamarit from Nunsys presented the project “AI models for smart cities – EDIC and European Local Digital Twin toolbox” . Rooted in the capital city of Valencia, this project aims to create digital twins of capital cities and buildings in Europe, starting with pilot cities where simulations can be developed and carried out to help predict future situations. Valencia is the representative city of Spain in this European initiative.
The future of AI
The forum featured a space for researchers from the ValgraAI Foundation to present projects that demonstrate the transformative impact of artificial intelligence and robotics in areas such as health, safety and information accessibility. Among them, the organization highlights:
- Artificial Intelligence in Video Games: Carlos Marín Lora from Universitat Jaume I and member of the research group GAMERS – UJI presented his study on how artificial intelligence techniques can change the experience of video games, making them immersive and personalized. Its advances range from active treadmill games to cultural promotion through geolocation and augmented reality.
- Autonomous robotics: Antonio Santo from Miguel Hernández University (Elche) demonstrated a method for autonomous robots to navigate in natural environments using 3D point clouds acquired with LiDAR sensors, improving their ability to identify through areas.
- Prostate cancer diagnosis: Alejandro Golfe San Martín from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, together with the CVBLab group, presented an improved content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system using synthetic samples generated by artificial intelligence, which increases the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis. . prostate cancer.
- Autonomy at home for dependent people: Isabel Ferri Molla from the Universitat Politècnica de València presented a multimodal interaction system that uses neural networks and augmented reality to help elderly and dependent people with their daily tasks and improve their autonomy.
- Automatic translation of historical documents: Miguel Domingo from the Polytechnic University of Valencia showed advances in the application of modern language to make historical documents accessible, facilitating the preservation of cultural heritage.
- Adaptation of vision and language models in digital pathology: Pablo Meseguer Esbri from the Universitat Politècnica de València explained a training-free adaptation method for the classification of histopathology images, improving accuracy and speed in cancer diagnosis.
- Forecasting extreme climate events: Oscar Pellicer from the University of Valencia has developed an LSTM convolution model that predicts impacts on vegetation and offers explanatory analyzes of extreme climate events and provides early warning signals.
- Anomaly Detection in IoT: Sahibzada Saadoon Hammad from Universitat Jaume I presented research on anomaly detection in IoT devices using Edge Computing, highlighting the benefits and challenges of this analysis.
- Underwater robotics for inspection and maintenance: Salvador López Barajas of the Universitat Jaume I has designed a robotic platform for the inspection and repair of underwater structures that are essential for industries such as fish farming and mining.
- Mitigating biases in language models for text simplification: Victoria Muñoz García from the University of Alicante looked at mitigating biases in language models used to simplify complex texts and improve their accessibility.
Social robotics
Tomorrow’s session was closed by CSIC Researcher Carme Torras with a presentation on “Social Robotics: “Research Challenges and Ethical Education Initiatives”, where she addressed the growing field of assistive robotics and highlighted its importance in assisting healthcare professionals in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes, as well as in empowering positioning people with reduced mobility in their homes so that they can independently carry out their daily activities.
Torras emphasized that operating in dynamic, human-centered environments presents new challenges for research. Robotic assistants must have friendly interfaces, be highly adaptable and customizable, extremely safe for humans, and able to manipulate deformable materials. These technical requirements are essential to ensure efficient and safe integration of robots into the human environment.
In addition to technical challenges, assistive robotics also presents significant ethical challenges, which has led to the emergence of a new discipline: Roboethics. Torras mentioned that several institutions are developing regulations and standards to address these ethical challenges. In addition, a number of ethical education initiatives include content on human-robot interaction and human dignity in aid situations.
In the afternoon, we gave way to the business sector, where various companies presented their success stories in the application of artificial intelligence, as well as the situations they face on a daily basis when using it. In this way, Ana Isabel Prieto from R&D at S2 Grupo gave a presentation on “Unmasking Spoofers: safe browsing thanks to AI”; Pablo Alcoriza, CTO at Ídrica, presented “GoAigua: Smart Water Solutions”; Javier Anguiano Aranzubía, Cetaqua delegate at CV, spoke about “AI as a transformative element in the water sector”; Víctor Peris, CEO of INDAWS, talked about his experience gained “Application of AI to Business Management”; Noelia González Méndez, manager of NTT DATA and Rubén Almaraz Arranz, project manager at NTT DATA, presented “AI-based processes: artificial intelligence applied to the optimization of business processes”; Manuel Herranz, CEO of Pangeanic, focused on “GenAI that works: Pangeanic at EFE and Tax Agency” and Jorge Capel, Head of the Solutions Architecture Office at Nunsys, spoke on “Expertise through Generative Artificial Intelligence”.
AI and critical security
The final presentation was by Oregon State University Professor Emeritus Thomas Dietterich, titled “Integrating Machine Learning into Safety-Critical Systems,” and focused on the capabilities of systems built through deep learning and its application in safety-critical applications. fields such as medicine, aviation and autonomous cars. The lecture focused on how machine learning methodologies are being developed to work in systems where security is critical.
Dietterich described several key changes needed to adapt machine learning to these highly demanding environments; namely building high-fidelity simulators, accurately replicating situations under controlled conditions, collecting adversary training data and specifically dangerous areas in the operational design domain (ODD), ensuring that the system is ready to handle risky situations.
Likewise, he insisted that it is crucial for models to properly adapt to new situations and validate their performance beyond training data; and that methods be developed to calculate the probability of failure and damage under normal operating conditions to maintain system safety.
Dietterich also pointed out that there is much research to be done to achieve these goals, stressing that traditional safety engineering only addresses known hazards, so it is crucial to design artificial intelligence systems that also detect and respond to new hazards.
