MIT conducts research to make AI smarter

MIT Team teaches AI models what they didn't know yet.

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing rapidly and becoming increasingly intertwined with our daily lives and high-stakes industries such as healthcare, telecommunications, and energy. However, with great power comes great responsibility: AI systems sometimes make mistakes or provide uncertain answers that can have major consequences.

Why is this so important?
Many AI models, even advanced ones, can sometimes exhibit so-called 'hallucinations'—providing incorrect or unfounded answers. In sectors where decisions carry significant weight, such as medical diagnosis or autonomous driving, this can have disastrous consequences. Themis AI developed Capsa, a platform that applies uncertainty quantification: it measures and quantifies the uncertainty of AI outputs in a detailed and reliable manner.

 How does it work?
By instilling uncertainty awareness in models, they can furnish outputs with a risk or confidence label. For example: a self-driving car can indicate that it is uncertain about a situation and therefore trigger human intervention. This not only increases safety, but also user trust in AI systems.

Examples of technical implementation
  • When integrating with PyTorch, wrapping the model is done via capsa_torch.wrapper() where the output consists of both the prediction and the risk:
Python example met capsa
For TensorFlow models, Capsa uses a decorator:
tensorflow
The impact for businesses and users
For NetCare and its clients, this technology represents a huge step forward. We can deliver AI applications that are not only intelligent, but also safe and more predictable with a reduced chance of hallucinations. It helps organizations make better-informed decisions and reduce risks when implementing AI in mission-critical applications.

Conclusion
The MIT team shows that the future of AI isn't just about becoming smarter, but above all about functioning more safely and fairly. At NetCare, we believe that AI only becomes truly valuable when it is transparent about its own limitations. With advanced uncertainty quantification tools like Capsa, you can put that vision into practice.

Gerard

Gerard is active as an AI consultant and manager. With extensive experience at large organizations, he is exceptionally quick at unravelling problems and working towards a solution. Combined with an economic background, he ensures commercially sound decisions.