Workshop - Explainable AI and explanations in AI

Organized by Markus Pantsar & Frederik Stjernfelt

February 2nd, 2022

RWTH Aachen University, Theaterplatz 14, room 303 and online

One important challenge in machine learning is the “black box” problem, in which an artificial intelligence reaches a result without any humans being able to explain why. This problem is typically present in deep artificial neural networks, in which the hidden layers are impenetrable. To tackle this problem, researchers have introduced the no- tion of explainable AI (XAI), artificial intelligence the results of which can be understood by humans. The XAI position is usually characterised in terms of three properties: transparency, interpretability, and explainability. While the first two have standard def- initions, explainability is not understood in a uniform manner. What does explainability mean? What kind of AI is explainable? Can there be properly explainable machine learning systems? In this workshop, we discuss a variety of approaches to these topics in connection to fundamental questions in artificial intelligence. What are explanations in AI? What do AI systems explain and how? How does AI explanation relate to the topics of human understanding and intelligence?

Confirmed speakers are: Jobst Landgrebe (Cognotekt Köln), Markus Pantsar (University of Helsinki, c:o/re), Frederik Stjernfelt (Aalborg University Copenhagen, c:o/re), Gabriele Gramelsberger (c:o/re Aachen), Ana L. C. Bazzan (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, c:o/re Aachen), Joffrey Becker (Laboratoire d‘Anthropologie Sociale, c:o/re Aachen), Daniel Wenz (CSS Lab RWTH Aachen), and Andreas Kaminski (High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart).

Information and Program: https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/2022/01/27/2281/explainable-ai-explanations-in-ai/

ROUTINES — a film by Séverine Lagneaux & Joffrey Becker

Routines

a film by Joffrey Becker & Séverine Lagneaux

Filmé en Belgique dans un élevage laitier de la Région wallonne, Routines décrit le quotidien de l’exploitation et les reconfigurations liées à sa robotisation. En adoptant le point de vue des acteurs humains, animaux ou mécaniques, le film explore la façon dont la robotique et l’informatique transforment les interactions et les pratiques domesticatoires.

Filmed in Belgium in a dairying farm in the Walloon region, Routines describes the daily life of the farm and the reconfigurations linked to its robotisation. By adopting the point of view of human, animal or mechanical actors, the film explores the way in which robotics and computer technology transform interactions and domestic practices.

produced by Rien à Voir, CNRS, Fyssen Fund

2022 — documentary — 36 minutes

directors —  S. Lagneaux & J. Becker

camera — S. Lagneaux & J. Becker 

sound — S. Lagneaux & J. Becker

producer — JF de Hasque

editor — B. Tracq

https://rienavoir.org/Routines

Drôles d'Objets - Conférence de cloture

Dans cette synthèse, Frédéric Alexandre (Neurosciences / INRIA) et Denis Vidal (Anthropologie / IRD - EHESS) reviennent sur les travaux conduits lors de la conférence Droles d'Objets qui s'est tenue à La Rochelle du 27 au 29 octobre 2021.

Vidéo réalisée par Hélènise Fasquelle

Disponible sur : https://podcast.univ-lorraine.fr

Call for applications - Käte Hamburger Kolleg Aachen: Cultures of Research

10 Junior (postdoc) / Senior Fellowships starting in October 2022 for up to 12 months

Open call for applications

The Käte Hamburger Kolleg Aachen Cultures of Research (c:o/re) has openings for a total of 10 international fellows for the academic year 2022/2023, starting in October 2022. Eligible applicants are expected to come from the humanities, social sciences and STS as well as from natural, life and technical sciences. This International Center for Advanced Studies at RWTH Aachen University is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Part of its mission is to offer a free space to its fellows to develop their own research and to exchange ideas up to 12 months. 

The topic Cultures of Research is positioned where the fields of philosophy, sociology and history interface with natural science and technology. The overall focus of the Center’s work is on transformations of science and technology towards complexity, life-likeness and emergence. We are particularly interested in digitalization of research (simulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning) for studying complex systems (e.g. climate change, energy revolution, biologization, sustainability), in participatory arrangements between science and society and in investigating histories and varieties of cultures of research.

Our aim is to explore new cultures of (transdisciplinary) research, but also to develop new theories and methodologies for investigating the mentioned scientific transformations.

Against this backdrop we encourage applications by candidates:

• from the humanities, social sciences and STS to explore scientific and technological transformations;
• natural, life and technical sciences to explore complex systems; and
• from arts, art history, science journalism and scientific illustration to explore the mediation and representation of complexities and complex findings in science and technology.

Location

The international center is part of RWTH Aachen University (Germany), which with a student body of 47,000 is one of the largest technical universities in Europe. With over fifty professorships and ten institutes from the humanities and social sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities is an integral part of the interdisciplinary culture of teaching and research at RWTH Aachen University. Located at the borders of Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands (Euregio), it has close ties with STS institutes at the universities of Maastricht and Liège, and with the Jülich–Aachen Research Alliance (JARA BRAIN) at the neighboring Jülich Research Center, a research campus of more than 5,000 researchers.

Fellowship 

Fellows will join the international center for a maximum period of 12 months. The fellowships provide a full grant commensurate with applicants’ level of professional experience, working space in fully-equipped offices, logistical support, and access to the interdisciplinary research landscape and research labs at RWTH Aachen University. Fellows who take unpaid leave during their fellowship will receive financial compensation in the form of a stipend; alternatively, the center would pay for a teaching replacement at the fellow’s home institution. In order to create a stimulating intellectual environment among the resident research community, fellows are expected to routinely conduct much of their work from Aachen during their fellowship. Residency in Aachen is required and the center can support fellows in the search for accommodation.

Applications

Scholars can apply for either junior or senior fellowships. For junior fellows a successfully completed PhD is an eligibility requirement; for senior fellowships a professorship (associate, full professorship) or comparable position is expected. Applications (in English) should include a cover/motivational letter (1 page), CV (tabular, max. 2 pages), a project outline incl. intended goals/outcome of the project (max. 1300 words), and a list of publications. Please also submit a writing sample (journal article or book-chapter). Applications can be submitted via our application portal that you find here.

The deadline for applications is December 31, 2021.

Female researchers and scholars from the Global South are particularly encouraged to apply. For further information please visit the FAQs on this website.

https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/calls/10-junior-postdoc-senior-fellowships-starting-in-october-2022-for-up-to-12-months/

Conférence Drôles d'Objets - Un nouvel art de faire / La Rochelle 27-29 oct. 2021

Après plusieurs reports, nous sommes heureux de vous informer que la conférence "Drôles d'Objets - Un nouvel art de faire" aura lieu à La Rochelle du 27 au 29 octobre. 

Inscriptions en ligne sur le site : https://drolesdobjets20.sciencesconf.org

Que prêtons-nous aux machines ?

Que prêtons-nous aux machines ? 

Approches interdisciplinaires des interactions homme-robot

Coordination éditoriale : Collectif PsyPhINe 

Presses universitaires de Nancy - Editions Universitaires de Lorraine

242 p.

Nous sommes actuellement submergés par les « révolutions » technologiques, plus particulièrement par l'intelligence artificielle et la robotique, notions larges et souvent floues pour le grand public. Entre réussites et fantasmes, promesses et inquiétudes, ces technologies semblent destinées à bouleverser nos quotidiens, du travail jusqu’à l’intime. Cet ouvrage prend le temps de croiser des regards, parfois critiques, sur ces avancées et leurs perceptions par le public.

Sommaire

Introduction

Avoir, attribuer et exprimer des intentions par Valérie Aucouturier

L'émotion comme condition interactionnelle par Christian Plantin

L'origine de la méfiance à l'égard des robots : que nous dit la psychologie par Jérôme Dinet 

L'anthropomorphisme à l’aune de la robotique par Joffrey Becker

Le paradigme de l’alignement pour modéliser l’inter-subjectivité dans un robot par Alexandre Pitti

Vers une intelligence socio-emotionnelle artificielle des systèmes interactifs par Magalie Ochs

L’interaction non-verbale : un vecteur de communication homme/robot par Arnaud Revel

Des balbutiements à DECIDE : les tribulations de la lampe Psyphine par Virginie André, Yann Boniface

Dans la fabrique de l’intériorité : une exploration des façons d’être et des registres expressifs des objets à comportement par Florent Levillain, Samuel Bianchini, Didier Bouchon, Cécile Bucher, Aurélie Hoegy, Raphaëlle Kerbrat, Selma Lepart, Filipe Pais, Olivain Porry

Conclusion

https://www.lcdpu.fr/livre/?GCOI=27000100824270&fa=description

ICRA 2021 - Sentimental Machines

Our paper "Picking Up Good Vibrations: Designing an Experimental Setup to Assess the Role of Vibrations in Human-Robot Interaction" will be presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation on June 4, 2021 – 10:00AM CET.

*

Joffrey Becker, Samuel Bianchini, Hugo Scurto, Elena Tosi Brandi, "Picking Up Good Vibrations: Designing an Experimental Setup to Assess the Role of Vibrations in Human-Robot Interaction", IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, ICRA’21, Sentimental Machines, Xi’an, 2021

Abstract: Focusing on behavioral objects (considered as art and design objects which are not figurative nor utilitarian), this article describes a first step in the design of a research and creation project called The Appprentices. Conceived as an environment containing three behavioral objects which movements are amplified, The Appprentices constitutes an experimental platform which aims to contribute to a better understanding of the modalities by which humans and objects are in a situation of nonverbal communication. The project aims to contribute to the study of animism in human-robot interaction (HRI) but also to the study of analogical forms of communication generally prevailing in multi-species interaction. It therefore implies to pay a particular attention to the design of a shared space. Reviewing several works in the field of art and design where vibration plays a central role, we address a dimension of animism that is still poorly studied in HRI anthropology, based not on the idea that objects are considered as persons but rather that their collective activities can be considered by analogy with social life. We then identify vibration as a relevant modality for relating human and nonhuman collectives, which allows a frame for interaction within which vibratory signals can be exchanged and embodied. The article concludes with a description of the architecture of the shared vibratory space designed for the project.

Conference website: https://roboticart.org/icra2021

Registration (free): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sentimental-machines-workshp-during-icra21-conference-tickets-155505116991