USC and Amazon announced on January 28 that they are collaborating to establish a research center enhancing machine learning privacy and security.
The new Center for Secure and Trusted Machine Learning, as part of the Viterbi School of Engineering, was created to develop methodologies on improving trustworthiness of machine learning systems and to provide USC students with opportunities to conduct relevant research with help from academics and industrial pioneers.
In a statement sent to Annenberg Media via email, Provost Charles Zukoski mentioned that the pervasive usage of machine learning in various areas may cause privacy issues and ethical questions regarding its function, demonstrating the importance of establishing the new center.
“Today, machine learning is everywhere--speech recognition, self-driving cars, web searches, and even human genes research,” the statement reads. “However, this advancement in modern technology creates potential privacy issues and leads to ethical questions on how it can be applied. This one-of-a-kind research lab at USC will serve to make machine learning and A.I. technologies more secure and trusted by the public for future generations to come.”
Yannis C. Yortsos, Dean of the Viterbi School of Engineering, told Annenberg Media in a Zoom interview that the Center would provide funds for students’ research projects, annual fellowships for doctoral students, and networking opportunities with Amazon.
“PhD students are asked to apply as well as faculty for support in [the center],” Yortsos said. “We will also have undergraduate interns who will come and work on this or potentially create a pipeline with Amazon, they can also do internships in Amazon.”
The application to propose a funded project is open to all students, according to Salman Avestimehr, professor at Viterbi School of Engineering and the inaugural director of the center.
“The projects that are selected are going to be awarded, so who [is] to be involved in those research projects is based on the projects, [including] phD students and undergraduate students,” Avestimehr said.
This is not the first time the collaboration happened--Amazon has been providing Alexa Fellowship for students for three years to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of artificial intelligence.
About a year ago, the Viterbi School of Engineering began to consider enhancing their collaboration with Amazon, and settled down the idea of establishing a new research center in early December, 2020, according to Yortsos.
“We have a lot of partnerships with Amazon, [as] we have a number of faculty who interact with Amazon,” Yortsos.
The collaboration between academia and the tech industry means merging the University’s theoretical perspective and the tech company’s practical perspective, according to Yortsos.
“Anything that connects a university, an institution with a corresponding corporate institution is always good, because the connection happens at multiple levels, research, recruitment, support of students,” Yortsos said. “It’s a whole gamut of engagement.”
Fiona Zhang, an undergraduate student majoring in computer science and business administration, is strongly interested in machine learning and is part of CAIS++, an undergraduate student organization aiming to promote the development of AI applications for social good.
Zhang told Annenberg Media that the new center “provides exciting opportunities for students who want to pursue [careers] in the field of AI to connect with top tech companies and find employment.”
“Machine learning uses data to train models, and high tech companies like Amazon often have acquired a wide range of data from real life, so the companies can provide data while the universities provide academic resources,” Zhang said.
The partnership is a “win-win situation” that informs companies with a clearer talent landscape at universities, according to Yortsos.
“Talents in the high tech industry are recruiting from universities, and also they want to make sure that they understand the quality of work that is going on in universities,” Yortsos said. “That’s actually our vision to solve big problems, move ahead and make the world a better place.”