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Seeing is Believing: Why Computers Can’t See Very Well (Yet)

Join us for “Seeing is Believing: Why Computers Can’t See Very Well (Yet),” Friday, September 30 at noon via Zoom. Amir Sadovnik, assistant professor in the UT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, will discuss the advances being made in this critical field of research.

The amazing progress in artificial intelligence is already making a real impact on our lives, and likely will define the technological advances of the 2020s. When it comes to our most dominant human sense, however, computers are still largely operating in the dark.

“Although artificial intelligence has advanced significantly in the past decades, general vision is still a task that humans perform notably better,” Professor Sadovnik said.  “We will explore why ‘seeing’ is a hard task, and discuss a few methods computer vision researchers are using to try and solve it.”

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Register today for the Sept. 30 Science Forum. 

About Professor Sadovnik

Amir Sadovnik, is an assistant professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research in the field of computer vision has been mostly driven by the way humans understand and interact with images. This human centered view has led him to work on new and exciting projects, which utilize tools from different fields (such as computer vision, signal processing, natural language processing and machine learning), and apply them in new ways.

His current research is mostly centered on using deep neural networks for tasks which tend to be more subjective, such as evoked emotions, face similarity, and fashion compatibility. The subjective nature of these problems presents many interesting obstacles and opportunities which he explores in his research.

Prior to arriving at UT, Sadovnik was an assistant professor at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. He earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

About the Science Forum

Started in 1933, the UT Science Forum is one of the oldest UT organizations. Its purpose? To share the latest scientific research with the public.

Nearly 90 years later, the UT Science Forum provides an excellent opportunity for students, UT professors and the general public to learn about cutting-edge research at UT, ORNL, and other local facilities.

Join Us Friday Sept. 23 at Noon via Zoom

Join us Fridays at noon for an opportunity to discuss the latest scientific research with distinguished professors and researchers. Presentations are 40 minutes and designed for the general public. A question-and-answer session follows each presentation.

For the health and safety of our campus and Knoxville community, we will host all spring 2022 Science Forum lectures on Zoom. Visit the Zoom Help Center to learn more about setting up an account and joining a meeting.