Yejin Choi presented “The Art of (Artificial) Reasoning” at the April 16 DLS. (Photo: Jeff Beardall)
For more than a decade, the C.C. “Kelly” Gotlieb Distinguished Lecture Series has brought leading researchers to the University of Toronto to share advances in computer science.
On Thursday, April 16, Yejin Choi, a distinguished scientist at NVIDIA and professor at Stanford University, delivered “The Art of (Artificial) Reasoning” to a full audience at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. Nearly 400 people attended the talk in-person and online. The Ƶ of Computer Science hosted the event in collaboration with the Vector Institute.
Choi addressed one of artificial intelligence’s central challenges: why today's most advanced systems continue to show uneven, or "jagged" intelligence despite strong benchmark performance. Drawing on research at the intersection of language, reasoning and learning, she examined the limits of large-scale approaches that rely on ever-increasing data and compute.
Choi presenting to a full audience at Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. (Photo: Jeff Beardall)
The lecture series takes its name from C.C. “Kelly” Gotlieb, the Ƶ of Computer Science’s inaugural chair and a driving force behind the University of Toronto’s rise as a national leader in computer science. Gotlieb is widely credited with helping usher Canada into the modern age of computing, a legacy reflected in the series that bears his name.
The lecture marked the first time the series welcomed special guests Leo and Jacob Gotlieb. Leo Gotlieb is Kelly Gotlieb’s son and a University of Toronto computer science alumnus.
From left to right: Leo Gotlieb and Jacob Gotlieb standing next to a banner of Distinguished Lecture Series speakers. (Photo: Jeff Beardall)
“I found it fascinating, but also humbling,” Leo Gotlieb said. “The work is incredibly deep and complex. I realized how superficial my own understanding of AI really is once you start seeing how far down the layers go.”
The department will announce details about the next lecture in the series, scheduled for this fall, in the coming months.