Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and a Vector Institute Faculty Affiliate. He leads the Collaborative Human-AI Reasoning Machines (CHARM) Lab, dedicated to pioneering advances in artificial intelligence to facilitate trustworthy human-AI collaborations. The CHARM Lab's research agenda includes developing AI systems that can ensure AI safety and ethics, rectify adverse outcomes, and synergize human and machine capabilities, particularly in domains like healthcare and education. This involves research and applied work causal inference, explainable AI, and program synthesis.
Prior to joining UWaterloo, he accumulated significant industry experience at leading tech companies such as BlackBerry, Meta, Google Brain, and DeepMind, and consulted for various startups and incubators. His academic and professional achievements have earned him multiple accolades, such as the Spirit of Engineering Science Award (University of Toronto, 2015), the Alumni Gold Medal Award (University of Waterloo, 2018), the NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship (2018), the Google PhD Fellowship (2021), the ETH Zurich Medal (2024), and the Igor Ivkovic Teaching Excellence Award (2024). Dr. Karimi is a firm believer in the strength of diverse perspectives and is dedicated to building inclusive spaces in academia and beyond.
As a professor, he strives to inspire the next generation of AI researchers and engineers, helping them understand and responsibly apply the power of AI. Further emphasizing his commitment to inclusive learning, he co-founded "PrinceOfAI," an initiative that provides free education on basic and advanced AI topics to a community of over 30,000 individuals. This initiative aims to reduce barriers to education and offer opportunities to those who traditionally lack access. With a wealth of content equivalent to an introductory Machine Learning course, their platform facilitates active learning through technical posts, engaging video reels, and interactive webinars.
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Chapters:
0:00 Teaser
1:07 Introductions
Entrepreneurship:
3:49 Citoprint
6:00 Next 36
PhD in Europe & Work-Life Balance:
8:53 My experiences in Europe
16:52 Balancing personal and professional life
How Did I Get Into AI?
18:34 The journey into AI
20:04 Engineering Science at UofT
21:58 Research opportunities at Waterloo
Research & CHARM Lab:
24:26 Love for research
26:47 What is research?
29:54 Trust and coexistence with AI
Algorithmic Recourse & Open Source:
37:16 Why open-source matters
38:30 Tackling algorithmic recourse
Choosing Impactful Problems:
41:45 Ingredients for impactful research:
42:26 Choosing the right environment
44:07 Avoiding hype
47:22 Writing with purpose
49:23 Balancing quality vs quantity
Teaching & Prince of AI:
51:30 Why I teach intro to ML
57:40 The story behind Prince of AI
Life Principles & Motivation:
59:50 A day in my life
1:01:54 What drives me
1:04:02 Reflecting on the meaning of life
1:04:40 Life principles:
1:05:06 Take the shot
1:05:26 Under-promise, over-deliver
1:06:49 Accept what you can’t control
1:07:23 Small, iterative steps toward growth
1:11:00 Don’t get too comfortable too early
1:12:35 Outro
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Contact Dr. Karimi:
Personal website: [ Ссылка ] X: [ Ссылка ]_
Email: amirhkarimi@gmail.com
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VIPodcast X link: [ Ссылка ]
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