The early days of AI...and how it all began for me

Here are two video from an old TV show called "The computer chronicles" about the state of the art of AI in the early 80's. The dreams, the early ideas, the applications, the skepticism. If you're into AI related research, then you will see the origins of a lot of what we do (and a lot of what we all take for granted).






It also reminds me of how I got into this field. I remember one Thursday in my second or third year, we (my friends P&K and I) bunked the 'seminar hour' to catch a movie in downtown. There was a book exhibition in Sundarabai hall near SNDT college, and we decided to browse (the whole idea was to kill time). I bought two books that day, which affected my life tremendously. One was about data mining, written by prof. Vasant Dhar from NYU(who I later ended up working with). I think it was called seven ways of transforming your business data into business intelligence, or something like that. The other one was about expert systems. I didn't read the whole book, but it talked about terms like 'knowledge engineering' and so on. I felt like I had found the purpose of my life. The meaning of my name, Pallika, is a large lamp, a light bearer, spreading the light of knowledge. I felt like this was the right field for me, cause I would in some sense fulfilling my destiny. Of course, I was fascinated by the fact that you can go beyond simple data manipulation tasks and really build smarter systems.

I had heard about AI before that at a 'conference' held in our college. Actually, I think I should give credit to the much loathed prof. Sai from our college to take the initiative to organize such things. I remember scientists from BARC and TIFR giving talks about example based learning (I even remember the example they used - showing a system 1000 images of a tiger, then showing a new image and expecting the machine to recognize that it's a tiger). I remember thinking that it was something very powerful. Unfortunately, I could not take AI as an elective in my final year, since it wasn't being offered. Oh, the tragedies of being in Bombay University! I'm not even going to go there. But then it all sort of started building up. In my fifth semester, I fell in love with databases, relational databases, to be precise. My B.E. project was the dream to build a decision support system for my dad's company (which wasn't really fulfilled).

Then the Silgate disaster happened. (The one line summary is that I joined a software start up the year I graduated, in 2000, when the great bubble burst, and we were without projects for pretty much most of the time. More about it some other day). I watched every tom, dick and harry learn Java and other related technologies. I had this burning desire to be in a place where I 'created' technology, rather than 'use' it. I thought M.S. in the U.S. was my solution. I talked to some profs at IIT and they said that expert systems are not hot any more. I was disappointed, but then I found out about data mining. Bingo. The way I perceived it then was, you take those lovely databases and inject some intelligence into it. So then, I went to NYU, took some interesting classes, met people, got a glimpse of the research world (almost as an outsider) and realized that M.S. was just not enough. I had not even started doing research. So I applied for PhD and ended up in a really nice place and felt that I had finally 'arrived'.

Fast forward three more years in grad school and here I am. Feeling more clueless about research than ever. There is so much that I don't know, so much that I need to learn. So many directions to go in, so much to work on. There have been so many setbacks and so many disappointments. But somehow, I still feel excited every time I think about the possibilities. The possibilities of what we can do. The frontiers of AI are being pushed. I see it happening all around me. And it is a privilege to be a part of it.

Oxymoron?

They say that to be successful, put your heart and soul into whatever you do. In fact, being a scientist is one of those professions where you need to work wholeheartedly - not only to be successful, but also to avoid being miserable. Yet, I'm a reluctant scientist.

As far as I can remember, I really enjoyed math and science. One of my early memories is that of teaching my 'fictitious' students how to do long divisions in my backyard 'school'. I had the dream to be a scientist, just like Einstein, but of course, wearing the white 'scientist' lab coat (I wonder why it's so hard to reconcile these two scientist looks). I scored high in math and I participated in science exhibitions. One thing led to another and here I am. Just passed my PhD qualifiers (informally). So, looks like I will get a PhD. And I will be a scientist (although I don't resemble the Einstein look by any stretch of imagination, nor do I wear a white lab coat). But I hope to be a good scientist. My adviser is one of the best in the field. He's someone I respect tremendously and I work with some exceptional minds in Computer Science. I work on some very exciting research problems.

So why the reluctance?

Because science has never been the only endeavor in my life. Ever. There were always other things that I found equally exciting. I started my experiments in the kitchen as a very young age, which have continued till this day (read more about it on my blog, Rasaswad). That same backyard where I ran my 'school', also turned into a 'market place' where I ran a successful business. I've spent a few very challenging years in the corporate world - from dot com bursts to wall streety job to family business. And then there was Art. Art always kept tempting me away from science, or at least studies. It's been in my life in so many different forms - crafts, music, dancing, painting, and the list goes on (read more about it on my blog, Eager Artist). There are also thoughts about society and politics and how I can help people around me. And finally, as a woman, all that I need to and want to do for my family and home seems so much more important than any scientific discovery waiting to be made.

So, it's not that I don't like to or don't want to do research..It's just that I also want to do other stuff. A part of me is always asking - "Is this research really worth your time away from all that other stuff?" I'm still waiting for the time I find very clear answer to that question or when I can correctly set my priorities at all times, and manage my time to do it all. Till then, here's the journey of a 'Reluctant Scientist'.