Mary-Anne Williams
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| birth_place = [[Sydney, Australia]] |
| birth_place = [[Sydney, Australia]] |
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| doctoral_advisor = Norman Foo |
| doctoral_advisor = Norman Foo |
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| heading2 = "Doctoral Lineage" |
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| content2 = |
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* [[Norman Foo, University of Michigan]] |
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* [[Bernard P. Zeigler, University of Michigan]] |
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* [[John Holland, University of Michigan]] |
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* [[Arthur Burks, University of Michigan and Princeton]] |
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* [[Von Neumann, Princeton]] |
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| alma_mater = [[University of Sydney]]; [[Stanford University]]; [[University of Oxford]]; [[Harvard University]]; [[University of Edinburgh]] |
| alma_mater = [[University of Sydney]]; [[Stanford University]]; [[University of Oxford]]; [[Harvard University]]; [[University of Edinburgh]] |
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}} |
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'''Mary-Anne Williams''' is an Australian researcher who is the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at the [[University of New South Wales]] (UNSW) in [[Sydney]], [[Australia]] where she is based in the UNSW Business School. Her research focuses on AI and Innovation, and she is sought after thought-leader by industry and government. |
'''Mary-Anne Williams''' is an Australian researcher who is the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at the [[University of New South Wales]] (UNSW) in [[Sydney]], [[Australia]] where she is based in the UNSW Business School. Her research focuses on AI and Innovation, and she is sought after thought-leader by industry and government. |
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She is founder and director of the UNSW Business AI Lab{{cite web |url=http://businessai.unsw.edu.au |title =UNSW Business AI Lab}} and deputy director of the UNSW AI Institute.{{cite web |url=http://www.unsw.edu.au/unsw-ai |title=UNSW AI Institute |website=unsw.edu.au |access-date=20 November 2022}} Williams serves on the Defence Trailblazer Advisory Board and the Australian SKA Regional Centre (Square Kilometer Array Telescope) Board, and the Advisory Boards of Kit (a Commonwealth Bank |
She is founder and director of the UNSW Business AI Lab{{cite web |url=http://businessai.unsw.edu.au |title =UNSW Business AI Lab}} and deputy director of the UNSW AI Institute.{{cite web |url=http://www.unsw.edu.au/unsw-ai |title=UNSW AI Institute |website=unsw.edu.au |access-date=20 November 2022}} Williams serves on the Defence Trailblazer Advisory Board and the Australian SKA Regional Centre ([[Square Kilometer Array]] Telescope) Board, and the Advisory Boards of Kit (a Commonwealth Bank company), CipherStash an innovative startup, and several Journal Editorial boards. |
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Previously Williams was a Distinguished Research Professor at [[University of Technology Sydney]] and Director of the UTS Magic Lab.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/professor-steve-wozniak-takes-new-role-at-australian-university-uts/ |title=Professor Wozniak takes on a new role at Australian university |date=20 October 2014 |publisher=cnet.com |accessdate=18 November 2017}} At UNSW Williams works with staff, students, alumni and the broader innovation community to grow innovation and entrepreneurship across the University and accelerate innovative thinking in Australia. |
Previously Williams was a Distinguished Research Professor at [[University of Technology Sydney]] and Director of the UTS Magic Lab.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/professor-steve-wozniak-takes-new-role-at-australian-university-uts/ |title=Professor Wozniak takes on a new role at Australian university |date=20 October 2014 |publisher=cnet.com |accessdate=18 November 2017}} At UNSW Williams works with staff, students, alumni and the broader innovation community to grow innovation and entrepreneurship across the University and accelerate innovative thinking in Australia. |
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Williams is |
Williams is a leader in Artificial Intelligence with transdisciplinary expertise in Cognitive Science, Disruptive Technologies, Digital Transformation, Business and Law. She is listed among Robohub's "Top 25 Women in Robotics",[http://robohub.org/25-women-in-robotics-you-need-to-know-about/ RoboHub Top 25 Women in Robotics 2013], robohub.org[http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/science/fundamentals/article/2016/02/11/meet-6-impressive-aussie-women-scientists "Six Impressive Australian Women Scientists"], 11 February 2016, sbs.com.au and celebrated on the First International Day of Women and Girls in Science.[http://www.un.org/en/events/women-and-girls-in-science-day/index.shtml "International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2016"], un.org |
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Williams is a Fellow of [[AAAI]] (the global body for Artificial Intelligence) alongside key figures like [[John McCarthy (computer scientist)]] who coined the term “Artificial Intelligence”, founded the Stanford AI Lab and has a joint publication with Williams; [[Marvin Minsky]] (early AI pioneer MIT), [[Edward Feigenbaum]] inventor of Expert Systems, [[Geoffrey Hinton]], [[Yann LeCun]] and [[Yoshua Bengio]]. |
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| ⚫ | Also a Fellow of the [[Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering]] (ATSE), a Fellow of the [[Australian Computer Society]] (FACS), Fellow and Affiliated Faculty at CODEX at [[Stanford University]].{{Cite web|title=Mary Anne Williams|url=https://law.stanford.edu/directory/mary-anne-williams/|accessdate=18 November 2022|publisher=Stanford.edu}} |
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She has served on numerous boards and advisory groups including KR Inc, the Innovation Reference Group with the South Western Sydney Local Area Health District, the Digital Transformation and the AI Preparedness Committees at ATSE, and invited to join the selection committee for the |
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Williams has been a speaker at major events, including the 2022 APAC Open Data Science Conference, 2021 ACM/IEEE [[International Conference on Human–Robot Interaction]], 2020 [[Strategic Management Society]] Conference on Designing the Future at Berkeley, 2019 Academy of Marketing Science,{{Cite web |url=https://www.worldsciencefestival.com.au/speakers/mary-anne-williams-2017/ |title= Speaker on Artificial Intelligence and Social Robotics|publisher=worldsciencefestival.com |accessdate=18 November 2017}} United Nations WSIS Forum on the Impact of AI, 2016 World Science Festival, and Australian Strategic Policy Institute. She shared her views on the impact of AI on Human Rights during a panel at the[https://tech.humanrights.gov.au/|title= Australian Human Rights Commission Technology Conference] [[Australian Human Rights Commission]] Technology Conference. |
Williams has been a speaker at major events, including the 2022 APAC Open Data Science Conference, 2021 ACM/IEEE [[International Conference on Human–Robot Interaction]], 2020 [[Strategic Management Society]] Conference on Designing the Future at Berkeley, 2019 Academy of Marketing Science,{{Cite web |url=https://www.worldsciencefestival.com.au/speakers/mary-anne-williams-2017/ |title= Speaker on Artificial Intelligence and Social Robotics|publisher=worldsciencefestival.com |accessdate=18 November 2017}} United Nations WSIS Forum on the Impact of AI, 2016 World Science Festival, and Australian Strategic Policy Institute. She shared her views on the impact of AI on Human Rights during a panel at the[https://tech.humanrights.gov.au/|title= Australian Human Rights Commission Technology Conference] [[Australian Human Rights Commission]] Technology Conference. |
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Williams focuses on Innovation and works on AI, Decision Making models, Human-AI collaboration, AI safety and law. She leads a partnership with the [[South Western Sydney Local Health District]],{{Cite web |url=https://which-50.com/a-robot-with-unlimited-patience-has-been-assisting-visitors-at-a-sydney-hospital-this-week/ |title=Mary Anne Williams |publisher=which-50.com |accessdate=16 March 2020}} the Softbank Social Robotics Partnership and the partnership with the [[Commonwealth Bank]] in Social Robotics.{{Cite web |url=https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/newsroom/social-robotics-partnership-201608.html |title=Mary Anne Williams |publisher=cba.com.au |accessdate=18 November 2017}} She discussed the impact of [[Artificial intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] on compassion and human rights with the [[Dalai Lama]] in Sydney in June 2018.{{Cite web |url=http://happinessanditscauses.com.au |title=AI Law, Ethics and Policy |publisher=Happiness and Its Causes |accessdate=1 August 2018}} |
Williams focuses on Innovation and works on AI, Decision Making models, Human-AI collaboration, AI safety and law. She leads a partnership with the [[South Western Sydney Local Health District]],{{Cite web |url=https://which-50.com/a-robot-with-unlimited-patience-has-been-assisting-visitors-at-a-sydney-hospital-this-week/ |title=Mary Anne Williams |publisher=which-50.com |accessdate=16 March 2020}} the Softbank Social Robotics Partnership and the partnership with the [[Commonwealth Bank]] in Social Robotics.{{Cite web |url=https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/newsroom/social-robotics-partnership-201608.html |title=Mary Anne Williams |publisher=cba.com.au |accessdate=18 November 2017}} She discussed the impact of [[Artificial intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] on compassion and human rights with the [[Dalai Lama]] in Sydney in June 2018.{{Cite web |url=http://happinessanditscauses.com.au |title=AI Law, Ethics and Policy |publisher=Happiness and Its Causes |accessdate=1 August 2018}} |
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Williams has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and a Master of Laws (LLM). She is co-founder of the AI Policy Hub.{{Cite web |url=http://AIpolicyHub.org |title=AI Policy Hub |publisher=AI Policy Hub |accessdate=18 November 2017}} From 2003–2020 Professor Williams led the UTS [[RoboCup]] Team to become World Champions in Social Robotics 2019–2022. The team was the Australian Champion and Top International team in 2004. It won the Human–Robot Interface Award in 2017. In 2018 the [[RoboCup]] Team won the Tour Guide Challenge with the highest score of any team on any test in the history of the Social Robotics League.{{Cite web |url=https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering-and-information-technology/news/uts-unleashed-social-robotics-skills |title=UTS RoboCup 2018|date=2 July 2018 |publisher=UTS |accessdate=1 August 2018}} In 2019 her Research Team won the Social Robotics League at RoboCup 2019. In 2020, the team had more female representation than all the other teams in the Social Robotics League combined, highlighting the breadth of her impact in robotics and her commitment to developing a new generation of leaders. |
Williams has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and a Master of Laws (LLM). She is co-founder of the Stanford AI Policy Hub.{{Cite web |url=http://AIpolicyHub.org |title=AI Policy Hub |publisher=AI Policy Hub |accessdate=18 November 2017}} |
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From 2003–2020 Professor Williams led the UTS [[RoboCup]] Team to become World Champions in Social Robotics 2019–2022. The team was the Australian Champion and Top International team in 2004. It won the Human–Robot Interface Award in 2017. In 2018 the [[RoboCup]] Team won the Tour Guide Challenge with the highest score of any team on any test in the history of the Social Robotics League.{{Cite web |url=https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering-and-information-technology/news/uts-unleashed-social-robotics-skills |title=UTS RoboCup 2018|date=2 July 2018 |publisher=UTS |accessdate=1 August 2018}} In 2019 her Research Team won the Social Robotics League at RoboCup 2019. In 2020, the team had more female representation than all the other teams in the Social Robotics League combined, highlighting the breadth of her impact in robotics and her commitment to developing a new generation of leaders. |
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Williams has made foundational contributions to the field of Decision Making using insights, methods and techniques from [[belief revision]].{{Cite book |url=https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=758987&CFID=831191299&CFTOKEN=25549413 |title= On the Logic of Theory Base Change Proceeding JELIA '94 Proceedings of the European Conference on Logics in Artificial Intelligence Pages 86-105 |pages= 86–105 |publisher= ACM Digital Library |accessdate=November 18, 2017|isbn= 9783540583325 |year= 1994 }} Belief Revision is a fundamental area in Artificial Intelligence. It provides representations, models and mechanisms for computers to develop a set of beliefs and to revise them over time as they receive new information. Belief Revision plays a critical role in Explainable Artificial Intelligence: it allows AI systems to generate explanations of their behaviour that help humans interpret, understand, predict, and, importantly, trust AI systems. |
Williams has made foundational contributions to the field of Decision Making using insights, methods and techniques from [[belief revision]].{{Cite book |url=https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=758987&CFID=831191299&CFTOKEN=25549413 |title= On the Logic of Theory Base Change Proceeding JELIA '94 Proceedings of the European Conference on Logics in Artificial Intelligence Pages 86-105 |pages= 86–105 |publisher= ACM Digital Library |accessdate=November 18, 2017|isbn= 9783540583325 |year= 1994 }} Belief Revision is a fundamental area in Artificial Intelligence. It provides representations, models and mechanisms for computers to develop a set of beliefs and to revise them over time as they receive new information. Belief Revision plays a critical role in Explainable Artificial Intelligence: it allows AI systems to generate explanations of their behaviour that help humans interpret, understand, predict, and, importantly, trust AI systems. |
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Over the last three decades, Williams has provided solutions to several open research problems in decision-making related to finite representations of beliefs, |
Over the last three decades, Williams has provided solutions to several longstanding open research problems in decision-making related to finite representations of beliefs, computational belief revision mechanisms, and the relevance of changes and explanations. She developed the first computational models and anytime algorithms for Belief Revision Operators to be applied to real-world problems.{{cite arXiv |eprint=cs/0003059 |title=SATEN: An Object-Oriented Web-Based Revision and Extraction Engine |last1=Williams |first1=Mary-Anne |last2=Sims |first2=Aidan |year=2000 }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/newsroom/Air-New-Zealand-and-CommBank-robot-experiment-201708.html |title=Social Robotics Applications |publisher= CBA |accessdate=November 18, 2017}} Anytime algorithms have an important feature for real-world applications: the more time they have, the better their outcomes. Not all algorithms have this feature; for example, venturing down fruitless decision/search tree branches usually means backtracking to a weaker outcome. |
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==Publications== |
==Publications== |
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