If you are an intern candidate who can (1) propose crazy ideas that nobody else can think off and (2) beat everyone else to accomplish that idea, contact me. 🙂
https://research.adobe.com/internships/
November 3, 2020
October 26, 2020
Research goal post
In my personal experience, there are two ways to guide a research project: solving a specific problem with whatever solutions that work the best (based on a variety of criteria such as quality, speed, cost, etc.), and devising a novel idea that can span different problems, domains, and applications.
The problem-oriented approach happens more in engineering (which aims to solve practical problems) while the idea-oriented approach happens more in science (especially more theoretical fields like math which aim to formulate fundamental ideas behind a plethora of phenomena).
Solving a specific problem provides a clear goal and reduces the tendency to derail, while aiming for ideas is more likely to work after one has already worked on related problems so as to condense the experiences into the core forms.
October 21, 2020
What can be quantified can also be automated
If the productivity of certain types of works can be quantified, it can also be optimized and thus automated.
Instead of performance evaluation, such measures are better used for identifying repetitive tasks potential for automation.
To achieve human-level intelligence, we probably need an AI framework very different from existing rule-based (e.g., Minsky) and data-driven (e.g., current ML) approaches.
September 2, 2020
Vertigo ceiling
During vertigo, the eyes can spin around following the incorrect signals sent from a faulty vestibular system.
The effect can be reduced by VR: track the eye movements, classify whether they are caused by vertigo, and adjust the display accordingly (e.g., move the visual field with the spinning eye gaze).
August 8, 2020
Sharing paper source with publisher
Some publishers like ACM might ask for the source files to compile the camera ready papers. My understanding is that they need the source to tune the paper format, instead of publishing the source. Thus, it should be OK to share the source directly with the publisher.
If you have concerns about internal annotations such as author discussions not meant for the final paper, just clean up the source via arXiv Latex cleaner or something similar.
August 5, 2020
Popularity contest
A group of interns posted their projects on an internal expo and solicited popular votes with ferocity last seen in the 2016 Republican party presidential primaries.
Meanwhile, one intern submitted a paper to a top venue even before the start of the internship, and is now spending time revising the conditionally accepted paper, filing a patent, and collaborating with a product team, instead of campaigning for popularity among other interns.
Our time is very limited. As a research mentor, it is my responsibility to guide you towards what is important and steer you away from what is less so.
May 27, 2020
AI and art
A few days ago I read two articles about AI and art:
Computers do not make art, people do
A philosopher argues that an AI can’t be an artist
I cannot predict the future, including the possibility for AI to create art.
However, at the current stage of technology, AI can automate only a very tiny portion of creative tasks.
So just like all existing automation tools, I see AI as an assistant to elevate humans to higher mental tasks rather as a replacement.
May 8, 2020
Deep journey and genuine experience
There are these tourists who just want to visit as many places as possible to take (or even fake) photos without spending enough time experiencing the local life and culture with sufficient depth.
Researchers who abuse authorships are like such tourists.
They pretend having all the fun without actual experiencing much.
Life is a deep journey, and genuine experience is what matters the most.
May 3, 2020
Impact
A few days ago I read an article about an open-source ventilator that can be built with $400 in readily-available parts.
Today I saw a Facebook post discussing an article titled “Do top conferences contain well cited papers or junk?”.
Our impact is measured more about what we do for others (e.g., solving a social issue, curing a disease, saving the environment) than for ourselves (e.g., ego or career).
I would care much more about developing useful products or services than counting the number of papers or citations.