On May 24th, 2018, SAIF-CAFR Distinguished Speaker Series hosted by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) welcomed Michael Jordan. He is a Professor of both the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Statistics of the University of California at Berkeley, and is a master of machine learning. He delivered a speech on the theme of "The Prospects and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence", which explained the precise implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the possibility of AI commercialization.
Feng Li, Deputy Dean and Professor of Accounting at SAIF, discussed the prospects and challenges of AI in both technical direction and business model, with Jordan.
For the application of AI in the financial sector, Prof. Jordan believed that although AI has its own merits, it is impossible to replace human intuition, because human insights are extraordinary. When talking about excessive data in financial applications, he stated that in some domains, data is not a problem (the more data the better); while in other areas, it may cause confusion and should be avoided.
In his keynote speech, Prof. Jordan analyzed the current position and practical principles of AI in applications and vividly demonstrated how machine learning can make progress in deep learning. He started with the word “AI” and pointed out: "AI is not a new thing. It used to be machine learning. It is still far from intelligence." In his opinion, real intelligence calls for forward-looking planning.
