Mary-Anne Williams facts for kids

Mary-Anne Williams is an amazing Australian researcher who works with new ideas and technology. She holds a special position called the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. Her main focus is on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how we can use it to create new and exciting things. Many businesses and governments ask for her advice because she is a leading expert.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

AI is like teaching computers to think and learn, similar to how humans do. It helps computers solve problems, understand language, and even recognize faces. Mary-Anne Williams works to make AI helpful and safe for everyone.

Leading Innovation and AI

Mary-Anne Williams is the founder and director of the UNSW Business AI Lab. This lab is a place where new AI ideas for businesses are developed. She is also the deputy director of the UNSW AI Institute, which brings together many experts working on AI.

She helps guide important projects, like the Defence Trailblazer Advisory Board and the Australian SKA Regional Centre Board. The SKA is a huge telescope project that will help us learn more about space. She also advises companies like Kit (part of Commonwealth Bank) and CipherStash, which is a new technology company.

Before working at UNSW, Professor Williams was a top researcher at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She also directed the UTS Magic Lab, where they explored new technologies. At UNSW, she helps students, staff, and the community to think creatively and develop new ideas.

Her Wide Range of Expertise

Professor Williams is an AI researcher who understands many different subjects. She combines her knowledge of AI with how people think (Cognitive Science), new technologies that change industries (Disruptive Technologies), and how businesses use technology (Digital Transformation). She also understands business and law.

She has been recognized as one of Robohub's "Top 25 Women in Robotics." She was also celebrated on the First International Day of Women and Girls in Science, showing her important role in science.

Awards and Recognitions

Mary-Anne Williams is a Fellow of several important organizations. This means she is a highly respected member. She is a Fellow of AAAI (the global group for Artificial Intelligence), the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), and the Australian Computer Society (FACS). She is also connected with CODEX at Stanford University. She has served on many boards that help guide technology and innovation.

Speaking at Major Events

Professor Williams often speaks at big conferences and events around the world. She shares her ideas on how AI impacts our lives. For example, she spoke at the Open Data Science Conference and the International Conference on Human–Robot Interaction. She also shared her thoughts on how AI affects human rights at the Australian Human Rights Commission Technology Conference.

Focusing on AI for Good

Mary-Anne Williams's work focuses on how AI can help us make better decisions and work together with humans. She also studies AI safety and the laws around AI. She leads partnerships with organizations like the South Western Sydney Local Health District and the Commonwealth Bank to use social robotics. She even discussed the impact of Artificial Intelligence on compassion and human rights with the Dalai Lama in 2018.

RoboCup Success

Mary-Anne Williams has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and a Master of Laws degree. She helped start the AI Policy Hub, which looks at rules for AI. From 2003 to 2020, Professor Williams led the UTS RoboCup Team. This team became World Champions in Social Robotics from 2019 to 2022!

Her team also won the Australian Championship in 2004 and the Human–Robot Interface Award in 2017. In 2018, her RoboCup team won the Tour Guide Challenge with the highest score ever in the Social Robotics League. In 2019, her research team won the Social Robotics League at RoboCup 2019. In 2020, her team had more female members than all other teams in the league combined. This shows her dedication to encouraging more girls and women in robotics.

How AI Learns and Explains

Professor Williams has made important discoveries in how AI makes decisions. She uses ideas from something called "belief revision." This is a key area in AI that helps computers learn and update their knowledge as they get new information.

Belief revision is very important for "Explainable Artificial Intelligence" (XAI). XAI helps AI systems show us how they make decisions. This helps humans understand, predict, and trust AI systems more easily.

Over the past 30 years, Professor Williams has solved many challenges in decision-making for AI. She created the first computer models and special algorithms that can be used in real-world problems. These "anytime algorithms" get better the more time they have to work, which is very useful for complex tasks.

See also

• Innovation