Successful first MIT-Chile Human-Centered AI & Visualization Research Workshop

January 2023. With the participation of more than 100 students from different countries, the first MIT-Chile Human Centered AI & Visualization Research Workshop. 

The event featured presentations and talks on topics ranging from biases in natural language, machine learning, and brain-computer interactions to activities such as storytelling with data and a live demonstration of electroencephalography. 

The idea for this workshop originated in early June 2022. Shortly thereafter, the organizers, Denis Parra, a researcher at the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data and academic at the Department of Computer Science at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Maggie Hughes, PhD candidate in Media Arts and Sciences at the Center for Constructive Communication at the MIT Media Lab, and led by Belén Saldías, PhD candidate at MIT's Center for Constructive Communication, began contacting sponsors and speakers to organize the event. "Opportunities like these are rare in Latin America, and even more so those like this that are free and provide funding for participants in remote regions," explains Belén Saldías. 

The organization designed the daily conferences with the aim of motivating participants to join debates on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence research with a focus on People. Active learning activities and networking opportunities were created. Participating students received pre-conference materials to better prepare themselves: they had access to review documents, assignments, personal data visualization exercises, and reflections on research questions. 

At the end of the conference, participants highlighted the opportunity to participate in student-led discussions, which allowed them to take advantage of research opportunities and the results of the presentations. 

The activity was supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Global Experiences; the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the National Center for Artificial Intelligence, CenIA; the Millennium Institute Engineering and Artificial Intelligence for Health, iHealth; the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data; and sponsored by MIT Media Lab, Agrosuper, Amazon Web Services , and HAI-VIS, Human-centered Artificial Intelligence and Visualization group at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.