Biography of characters
Michael I. Jordan was born in 1956. He is an American computer science and statistician. He is currently a professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. The main research directions are artificial intelligence , biological systems and computing biology , control, intelligent systems and robots, signal processing, machine learning, etc.
Reason for winning the award
What is the real master-level figure like? It may be "big sounds are rare, and elephants are invisible" - his contributions are everywhere, but they are difficult to describe in detail. In the field of artificial intelligence, American computer science and statistician Michael I. Jordan is such a "great god". Today, he won the first World Top Scientists Association Award "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award " for "making fundamental contributions to the theoretical basis and application of machine learning ".
As a member of the American Academy of Sciences, an academician of the American Academy of Engineering, and an academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Michael I. Jordan is the only scientist in the field of artificial intelligence that combines academicians of the Third Academy. His outstanding contribution lies in the successful connection between computer science and statistics. Professor Wu Fei, Executive Vice Dean of the Shanghai Institute of Advanced Studies of Zhejiang University and School of Computer Science and Technology, said that it was this Jordan who used statistical methods to open up the theoretical and methodical "Ren and Du meridians" for machine learning, allowing the third-generation artificial intelligence driven by big data to be widely used.
Get rid of "from theory to theory" and introduce statistical models into artificial intelligence
"Professor Michael Jordan is a pioneer in the field of machine learning, probability , statistics and graph modeling. The interconnection of these fields not only promotes the research and development of the field of machine learning, but also improves the quality and quantity of research work in related fields." John Hennessy, chairman of the selection committee of the "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award" of the Ding Science Association Award and the winner of of 2017 Turing Award , commented on Jordan's contribution.
Machine learning is the cornerstone of artificial intelligence. Jordan has worked in this field for nearly 30 years. He has allowed artificial intelligence to be fundamentally improved in theory and methodology.
Wu Fei gave an example, and a statistics show that the mortality rate of patients in large hospitals is higher than that in small hospitals. From this we can draw the conclusion that "the medical level of large hospitals is not as good as that of small hospitals"? Obviously this is unscientific. Because of the high medical level in large hospitals, they also accept more critically ill patients, and the risk of death is much higher than that of small hospitals. Artificial intelligence big data in the "wild age" often gives ridiculous statistical results.
To develop a theory and method to ensure that the data can reach correct conclusions during processing, it is necessary to establish statistical models that can be continuously improved. "In the past, many statistical models were obsessed with the design and parameter optimization of the system. At the same time, artificial intelligence urgently needed theoretical models to improve itself." Wu Fei said that Jordan used his cross-disciplinary advantages across computer and statistics to open up the "Ren and Du meridians" between theory and methodology for machine learning, making data-driven artificial intelligence possible, while also being more efficient and reliable.
If data is flesh and blood, then statistical models are muscles and bones. Machine learning, which has been improved in all aspects, can finally show its strength and artificial intelligence has begun to enter the data-driven era. In the past decade, the application of machine learning in many fields has shown explosive development, and autonomous vehicles, X-ray analysis, protein folding prediction, etc. are inseparable from the theoretical framework shaped by the Jordan Institute. At the same time, he himself is one of the pioneers in the fields of text analysis, image analysis, etc.
AI field "Joe Gang Leader" advocates the concept of "people-centeredness"
Jordan's contribution to computer science is also reflected in education. He has guided more than 80 doctoral students and more than 60 postdoctoral researchers. This group is currently active in the world's leading academic institutions and leads the industry forward.
2018 Turing Award winner, Joshua Bengio, professor at the University of Montreal, Canada, Zubin Galamani, professor at the University of Cambridge, UK, authoritative in the field of linear discriminative dimensionality reduction algorithm, David Bray, professor at the , professor at the of Columbia University, etc., are all famous "Jomen disciples" in the industry.
Professor Zhang Zhihua from Peking University Institute of Artificial Intelligence is a postdoctoral fellow in Jordan. In an interview, he mentioned that Michael's personality charm deeply impressed him. He was able to "teach students according to their aptitude" and was once nicknamed "knowing how to see things." Many of his students think that it is a blessing in life to have such a mentor who can consider students' career development attentively, but will not have a burden for "a teacher for one day and a father for life".
In fact, Jordan also likes to communicate extensively with scholars and students from all over the world. He has visited China many times and has served as an honorary professor at Tsinghua University and Peking University for a long time.
In the eyes of this godfather of artificial intelligence, the real AI revolution in has not yet arrived . He believes that artificial intelligence is still in the machine learning stage and cannot replace humans in many tasks such as reasoning, applying real-world knowledge and social interaction.
In 2018, Jordan published "Artificial Intelligence - The Revolution Has Not Happened" in the Harvard Data Science Review, pointing out that how to combine computers and humans to improve people's living standards is a challenge we face. He believes that human happiness should not be considered after the development of science and technology. Therefore, the development of artificial intelligence cannot be just a technical dialogue, but requires hearing voices from a wider range, especially from the perspective of social sciences and humanities. He said: "We have a real opportunity to imagine something new: a human-centered engineering discipline."
Author: Xu Qimin
Picture: Ding Science and Technology Association provides
