NeurIPS 2020 - Highlights
NeurIPS 2020 (The thirty-fourth Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems) took place last week, December 6th - 12th. It was a virtual only conference, as we got used to this year. Sharing a few of the events.
Covid19 Symposium
Took place over two days and included many insightful presentations, I’ve learned a lot from it. Mentioning just a few.
COVID-19: Can we test our way out of this? by Michael Mina
Explained the different type of testing strategies and tests (PCR, rapid antigen test, antibody test) that exist and their different properties (e.g. sensitivity). One misconception I had before the presentation was that the rapid tests were less reliable. In fact they are less sensitive than the PCR meaning they trigger only when the viral load is high. However, a subject is infectious exactly during that period of time so frequent rapid testing can actually be very efficient for isolating the disease. The PCR test being more sensitive may continue to trigger even after the viral load decreases and the subject does no longer transmit the virus. The time to get the results is just around 15 minutes for the rapid antigen test whereas it can be 24 to 48 hours for the PCR test. Rapid testing based on inexpensive paper strips is being used in India and it could be a game changer to stop the spread.
A Journey Through the Disorderly World of Diagnostic and Prognostic Models for COVID-19 by Laure Wynants
Extensive review of hundreds of papers and models published on Covid-19, assessing the risk of bias and applicability of prediction models.
Moderna, Vaccine Science, and a Health Information Revolution by Noubar Afeyan
Insights into how Moderna has developed its vaccine.
A Future of Work for the Invisible Workers in A.I. by Saiph Savage
Raising awareness about the hidden side of AI: human annotators. Typically paid low wages, not getting credit for the products they power building and without easy access to opportunities to grow in their roles and careers. Some solutions were mentioned: mentoring from already successful annotators, review systems for employers (e.g. Turkopticon).
It’s expected that the need for this type of jobs will increase in the coming years.
The Real AI Revolution by Chris Bishop
The Chris Bishop who authored the book that can be found in many people’s libraries:
What has he been up to at Microsoft? Mind-blowing new storage systems using holograms and AI to decode the data as well as medical assistive technology that can help doctors setup surgeries in minutes compared to hours. Pretty impressive.
Wishing everyone happy holidays and a great 2021!