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Researchers in artificial intelligence have developed an innovative way to identify a range of anti-social behaviour online. The new technique, led by Alex Parmentier, a master’s student at Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, detects anti-social behaviour by examining the reaction to a post among members of an online forum rather than examining features of the original post itself.

Researchers at the Cheriton School of Computer Science have pioneered a new method that could be used to develop more natural automated virtual assistants to help people suffering from mental illness. 

Called SMERTI (pronounced smarty), the new method enables virtual assistants to use natural language and emotional cues that change depending on the relationship and situations in which they are used. The result allows for the development of virtual assistants that better connect with people they are used to help.

Professor Kate Larson has been appointed a University Research Chair in recognition of her outstanding research contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. Waterloo’s designation of University Research Chair recognizes exceptional achievement of faculty and their pre-eminence in a field of knowledge.

Professors Olga Veksler and Yuri Boykov joined the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science earlier this year. Previously, both were full professors in the Department of Computer Science at Western University, where they were faculty members for 14 years.

Their research interests are in the area of computer vision. In particular, Olga’s interests are in visual correspondence and image segmentation, and Yuri’s also include 3D reconstruction and biomedical image analysis.