Rama Chellappa - Can We Trust AI?

Through honest assessments and engaging quotes, sidebars, and stories, Can We Trust AI? provides an impressive account of this fascinating and controversial discipline. Chellappa, a world-renowned scientist and inventor, has devoted his lifes work to the research, development, and applications of artificial intelligence. While hes immersed in its complexities, his book provides an accessible entre to the subject for readers of all backgrounds who wish to learn more about its advantages, capabilities, and potential dangers.

Tom Burns, PhD, technology entrepreneur and investor; former director, Strategic Technology Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

A first-class tour through the evolution, promise and perils of AI by one of its leading lights. A great book for cutting through both the hype and the fear-mongering surrounding AI.

Alex Pentland, PhD, Professor of MIT Business, Engineering, and Media Lab;

founder of the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program,

Advisory Board Member for the United Nations Secretary General; Council Member, World Economic Forum

Artificial intelligence in the past and present; in research labs and industry; in everyday lives and war zones; in reality and science fiction. By going back and forth, Chellappa challenges us to think about what AI truly means to the world, now and into the future. A must-read book for everyone from early adopters of these technologies to their skeptics.

Takeo Kanade, PhD, Professor of Computer Science and Robotics and former director of the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University; 2016 recipient of the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology

Rama Chellappas work on automatic recognition of humans has helped define AI research for four decades. In this book, he carefully addresses the history and future of AI, its compelling applications, including in medicine and autonomous driving, and its ethical challenges, questionable uses, potential biases, and privacy issues. Its a terrific and highly personal read!

Alan Bovik, PhD, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering,

University of Texas at Austin; recipient of the 2021 Technology and

Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the 2022 IEEE Edison Medal

Having made notable contributions to the field throughout his career, Dr. Chellappa is well positioned to predict what AI is capable of and to recognize its current limitations. In this easy-to-follow and insightful book, he weaves together a cautiously optimistic recounting of pioneering advances in AI with a frank reckoning of its potential shortcomings, along with suggestions for improvements, including greater diversity in academic programs and hiring in the field.

Maya Kabkab, PhD, Staff Software Engineer, Waymo LLC

Can we trust AI? Are we safer turning the wheel over to our AI driver than we are driving ourselves? Do face recognition systems strengthen or weaken our society? Rama Chellappa, a renowned researcher in AI and computer vision, has written a delightfully personalized and insightful book that rationally addresses these questions and provides the reader with important historical context on the development of AI over the past half-century. A valuable read for anyone interested in how AI will shape our future.

Larry Davis, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Computer Science; Director of the Center for Automation Research (CfAR), University of Maryland, College Park

Chellappa provides a wonderful journey through artificial intelligences origins and experiments, and explains how its advances impact the world were living in today. He shares his expertise on the intricacies of AI technologies and applications in a simple yet effective way.

Rajeev Ranjan, PhD, Senior Applied Scientist, Amazon One

Grounded in Dr. Chellappas decades of experience working in the field of artificial intelligence, Can We Trust AI? provides an excellent overview of how these technologies have evolved over the past five decades and offers a realistic opinion on current capabilities. The narrative also addresses several key issues with current AI systems, including bias concerns and the lack of appropriate regulations to prevent their misuse.

Raviteja Vemulapalli, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Google LLC

Can We Trust AI?

In classrooms, field stations, and laboratories in Baltimore and around the world, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professors of Johns Hopkins University are opening the boundaries of our understanding of many of the worlds most complex challenges. The Johns Hopkins Wavelengths series brings readers inside their stories, presenting the pioneering discoveries and innovations that benefit people in their neighborhoods and across the globe in artificial intelligence, cancer research, food systems, health equity, marine robotics, planetary science, science diplomacy, and other critical areas of study. Through these compelling narratives, their insights will spark conversations from dorm rooms to dining rooms to boardrooms.

This print and digital media program is a partnership between Johns Hopkins University Press and the Universitys Office of Research. Team members include:

Consultant Editor: Eric Niiler

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Matt R. McAdam

Copyeditor: Charles Dibble

Art Director: Martha Sewall

Series Designer: Matthew Cole

Production Supervisor: Jennifer Paulson

Publicist: Kait Howard

Director, Johns Hopkins Wavelengths: Anna Marlis Burgard

JHUP Executive Director and Publisher: Barbara Kline Pope

Office of Research Executive Director for Research: Julie Messersmith

RAMA CHELLAPPA, PhD

With Eric Niiler

Johns Hopkins University Press

Baltimore

Johns Hopkins Wavelengths is a registered trademark of the Johns Hopkins University

2022 Rama Chellappa

All rights reserved. Published 2022

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Johns Hopkins University Press

2715 North Charles Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21218

www.press.jhu.edu

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-4214-4530-4 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-4214-4531-1 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-4214-4532-8 (ebook, open access)

The Open Access edition of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. CC BY-NC-ND

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IVE BEEN CURIOUS about how technology works since my childhood in Chennai, India, in the 1960s. During that era, America was a vibrant hub of innovation, so when I was 10 years old, a friend encouraged me to write to the US embassy in New Delhi, expressing my interest in learning about the United States. I wrote the letter in my native language, Tamil, and addressed it simply to Ambassador, US Embassy, New Delhi, India. To my delight, two months later I received a beautiful book with President George Washington on the cover. I read the book, which detailed the nations history, people, system of government, and contributions to science and technology, from cover to cover.