Seminar: Augmenting Humans

_{© private}

Misha Sra, University of California, Santa Barbara

Augmenting Humans
In this talk, I will share my vision of augmenting humans with interactive AI and XR. In this vision, AI is no longer confined to screens but seamlessly embedded in our surroundings. It is no longer just an information source but a "physical" presence that can assist us with our tasks and daily lives. This new interactive AI paradigm presents a big leap forward in terms of how we think about and engage with AI. Instead of something that is separate from us, AI becomes a true extension of ourselves, enhancing our abilities in the real world.

Misha Sra is the John and Eileen Gerngross Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she directs the Human-AI Integration Lab in the Computer Science department at UCSB. Misha received her PhD from the MIT Media Lab in 2018, advised by Prof. Pattie Maes in the Fluid Interfaces Group. She has published at the most selective HCI, VR, and machine learning venues such as CHI, UIST, VRST, AAAI, and CVPR where she received four best paper awards and honorable mentions. MIT selected her as an EECS Rising Star in 2018. In 2023 she was awarded an NSF CAREER Award for her work in Human-AI Interaction design. Her research has received extensive coverage from leading media outlets (e.g., from Engadget, UploadVR, MIT Tech Review) and has drawn the attention of industry research, such as Toyota Research, Samsung Research, and Unity 3D.