| Time: | June 5, 2024, 11:30 a.m. (CEST) |
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| Universitätstraße 32.101, Campus Vaihingen of the University of Stuttgart. The talk will take place in person | |
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We are pleased to announce the upcoming ELLIS Distinguished Lecture Series talk by Elisabeth André! Looking forward to seeing you all there! No registration necessary.
The talk will be followed by an informal reception with finger food and drinks.
Professor André will also be available for meetings on June 5th. If you are interested in scheduling a meeting, please email ellis-office@uni-stuttgart.de.
Title: AI-supported communication: expressive faces, charismatic voices, and natural gestures
Abstract: Advances in analytic and generative AI present promising opportunities for enhancing communication by augmenting individuals' perceptual and expressive capabilities. This talk will explore recent advancements and practical applications of conversation-enhancing technologies, with a focus on their potential benefits for individuals facing communication challenges. Collaborative efforts have resulted in innovative applications tailored to diverse user needs. Examples include signing avatars designed to assist the hearing impaired, as well as more expressive voices for users of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices. Additionally, virtual reality environments have been developed to facilitate social skill training for both children and adults, leveraging role play interactions with virtual agents. The discussion will delve into how analytic and generative AI can serve as powerful tools to overcome communication barriers, foster authentic expression, and promote social inclusion. By analyzing the potential of these technologies to support users with varying communication abilities, we aim to address the challenges inherent in designing empathetic solutions that cater to the specific needs of diverse audiences, while mitigating the risk of reinforcing stereotypes.
Bio: Elisabeth André is a full professor of Computer Science and Founding Chair of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Augsburg University in Germany. She has a long track record in multimodal human-machine interaction, embodied conversational agents, social robotics, affective computing and social signal processing. Her work has won many awards including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz Prize 2021 of the German Research Foundation (DFG), with 2.5 Mio € the highest endowed German research award. In 2017, she was elected to the CHI Academy, an honorary group of leaders in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. To honor her achievements in bringing Artificial Intelligence techniques to Human-Computer Interaction, she was awarded a EurAI fellowship (European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence) in 2013. In 2019, she was named one of the 10 most influential figures in the history of AI in Germany by National Society for Informatics (GI). Elisabeth André is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Academy of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association, the National Academy of Science and Engineering acatech and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Furthermore, she is a fellow of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS).