The existing environment critically influences the processes of decision-making and learning – each of which is essential for growth. Cultural expectations, stakeholder needs, and pre-existing conditions shape pathways for interactions between people and machines, as well as provide scaffolding opportunities for development.

Learning is rooted in what it means to be human. Exploration, curiosity, and feedback both fuel and guide development in humans, as well as in science and analytics. This is a lifelong endeavor for humans. Machines and systems, increasingly required to continue a trajectory of learning, rely on patterns, sequences, consistencies, feedback, and new instruction for their improvement. What similarities in curiosity and learning of humans and machines can be assumed or explored?

The mediaX 2021 Conference: Building Reciprocity with Curiosity and Feedback in Humans and Machines, was held over three sessions (July 13, 14 and 15 2021) and focused on three sepcific themes each day, Empowerment, Discovery and Feedback.

CLICK HERE for key takeaways from each presenter.

Relive all of the presentations from the three days in the playlist below.

The Influence of Culture, Community and Context on Learning
Martha Russell, Executive Director of mediaX at Stanford University

Designing Systems for Digital Instruction, Session 1
Tomás Nascimento, Senior Technician, SEST SENAT

Designing Systems for Digital Instruction, Session 2
Rebecca Bettencourt, Senior Workforce Development Manager, E.&J. Gallo Winery

Designing Systems for Digital Instruction, Session 3
Derek Li, Founder & Chief Education Technology Scientist, Squirrel Ai Learning

Inclusive Innovation for Developing Relevant Learning Assessments
Jean-Claude Brizard, President and CEO, Digital Promise

A Taxonomy for Curiosity in Humans and AI
Nick Haber, Assistant Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Education

Limitations for Curiosity and Discovery in Open AI – GPT-3
David Evans, Stanford Distinguished Visiting Scholar, President of David A. Evans LLC
Peter Norvig, Stanford Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Director of Research at Google Inc
Ed Hovy, Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Leaky Abstractions for Designing AI Experiences
Hari Subramonyam, Assistant Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Education

Teaching AIs to Provide Feedback to Humans, Session 1
Hirotsugu Kashimura, President, Amada AI Innovation Laboratory Inc

Teaching AIs to Provide Feedback to Humans, Session 2
Ramya Malur Srinivasan, AI Researcher, Fujitsu Research of America