Dreams, Genes, & Machines: Are We Living Science Fiction? Artificial Intelligence

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Dreams, Genes, & Machines: Are We Living Science Fiction? Artificial Intelligence

What if search-and-rescue robots could sense survivors through dense smoke? What if surgical robots could perform impossible surgeries by seeing details invisible to a human doctor? At Dr. Achuta Kadambi’s UCLA lab, his team works to make these possibilities a reality. By symbiotically blending camera and algorithm designs, Kadambi gives the gift of sight to machines. With journalist Nellie Bowles, who covers tech and internet culture from San Francisco for the New York Times, Kadambi discusses how computational imaging has the potential to unleash an era of superhuman robotics.
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Color photo of Dr. Achuta Kadambi

Achuta Kadambi received a Ph.D. degree from MIT and joined UCLA as an Assistant Professor. His publications have been presented as Orals at CVPR, ICCV, ICCP, and SIGGRAPH. He is currently co-authoring a textbook (Computational Imaging, MIT Press 2021) and is also a co-founder of a robotic imaging startup. Achuta's research has received several recognitions, including the NSF Career Award, Forbes 30 under 30 (Science), Google Faculty Award, Sony Imaging Young Faculty Award, and Army Young Investigator Award (ARO-YIP).

Nellie Bowles is a domestic correspondent for the New York Times, focused on business and culture stories. She is writing a book of essays and posting a short one about religion online once a month or so. Prior to joining the Times, she was a correspondent for VICE News Tonight on HBO and a writer for the Guardian, Recode, and California Sunday.