Ayanna Howard

How to Prepare Students for the AI Economy

Artificial intelligence and robotics promise enormous benefits to humanity, but there could be potential drawbacks, as well. As more jobs are automated, fewer employment opportunities outside the technology sector will exist. It’s also possible that the wealthy and well-educated will reap the rewards of AI, while it holds back the underserved, who will find it even harder to climb the social ladder. To address these long-term concerns, Dr. Ayanna Howard says we need to focus on expanding the availability of STEM education now, so that future generations will be prepared for the gigantic technological shift taking place. A roboticist and AI expert, Dr. Howard draws on her background as an educator, as well as her expertise as co-founder and chief technology officer of the educational technology company Zyrobotics. She shows educators how they can successfully integrate STEM into classes for young children, encourage technological knowledge and appreciation throughout grade school, and ensure students are equipped with the theoretical and practical skills needed to succeed in higher learning institutions to pursue careers in the technologies of the future.

How to Make Robots Smarter - and Why We Should

There is both hope and fear regarding the advance of robotic technologies: will they be our closest partners, or a threat to our jobs, safety, and well-being? Professor Ayanna Howard focuses on designing helpful robots with an emotional intelligence that appropriately reacts to human behavior. Robotic and AI development, she says, should focus on instilling in our creations rules of engagement: ‘Don’t harm us. Obey us. Protect us.’ Robots that are more human in their behavior and psychology are less likely to violate our social norms, and to be our friends rather than our enemies.
In this presentation based on her widely-viewed TED Talk, ‘Make Robots Smarter,’ Howard explains how she develops robots and other AI functions by incorporating everything she knows about human intelligence, behavior and neuroscience, with the aim of producing human-like machines that can empathize and reciprocate trust from actual people. With implications for leading tech companies, as well as the businesses and consumers who will be buying their devices, gadgets, and helpers, Howard explains that by making robots smarter and more human-like, we will be making them less like the dangerous cyborgs of science fiction.

Robots As Helpful Health Care Givers

Whether caring for children with special needs or the elderly, providing adequate health care is a global and resource-stretching concern. But what if robots could lend a helping hand? On her mission to make robots ‘smarter,’ Professor Ayanna Howard has focused extensively on the use of robotic and AI technology in health care. Specifically, she has made major advances in providing physical therapy for children with motor skill limitations by making robots that play with them and turn their regimens into a game, while also allowing children to feel they have playmates to whom they can relate and freely express themselves.
More broadly, robots can be programmed to make emotional connections with patients of all ages and conditions, helping to monitor their states of health, provide company and comfort, and work with doctors in giving medical treatment. This presentation offers insight and advice to medical providers, demonstrating how they can use assistive robots to improve the quality and success of care – and possibly revolutionize the entire industry.