Prof featured in Canadian Business story on the evolution of AI

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Voice assistants and AI change the way we interact with technology, but what are the risks? Waterloo Engineering professor Alex Wong was interviewed about the continual evolution of AI and voice recognition…and how UW can play a part.

An assistant professor and co-director of the Vision and Image Processing Research Group at the University of Waterloo, Wong was featured this week in a Canadian Business article on the evolution, and current positives and drawbacks of voice assistants and artificial intelligence.

One of the main negatives, not fully recognized by consumers, involves the fact that current AI systems require devices to be listening, 24/7, for key words and directions. This open access to the owners' conversations exposes users to possible privacy issues.

Read about how Wong’s team is working on an operational AI solution that reduces that risk while still maintaining the ease and functionality we have come to expect from Siri, Alexa and Cortana.