The first chatbot created was in the mid-1960s by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum who coined his invention “ELIZA.” Today, more than 52% of American adults use AI chatbots with 72% of large language model users using ChatGPT. From wearable devices tracking our health metrics to social media message summaries helping us stay up to date with our group chats, AI is being positioned as a problem solver to users’ everyday tasks.
However innovative, the usage of AI and its integration into society has garnered mixed reviews, with some worried about its environmental, social and psychological impacts. One CCNY professor is keen on using AI for good.
Dr. Saptarashmi Bandyopadhyay is an assistant professor of computer science at the City College of New York and is an expert in Artificial Intelligence Agents and Autonomous Decision Making. Bandyopadhyay has made a name for himself in academia and with tech companies such as Google, NVIDIA, among others. Working towards his PhD at the University of Maryland, he worked as a student researcher at Google Augmented Reality, Google DeepMind and became an AI Resident at Google X.
The young professor is a recent addition to the institution’s work commitment towards AI. With acceleration and speed in mind, many of his earliest projects included using AI’s processing system to solve complex issues. Bandyopadhyay created a language processing system geared towards formatting computer systems to suit all language types and created an algorithm to assist with detecting early cancer cells to prevent the spread of disease.
Wanting to look beyond language and vision, he started to think about the implementation of AI in different facets of daily life. He explains that for many people familiar with AI, they recognize it for its predictive and generative qualities, however, he envisions AI has the capability to plan and reason. This research led him to practice algorithmic development to understand how AI could solve problems like disruptions in supply chains or help lead climate conservation efforts.
After obtaining his PhD in Computer Science and working at Google, Bandyopadhyay thought he’d continue his pursuit of implementing his AI projects in the industry, however, he realized that his desire to work in academia superseded all else. He describes a sense of freedom in being able to create his own research agenda while using his platform to connect and uplift students entering the ever-evolving world of computer science and AI.
“If I can play a little role in inspiring them to be bold, be innovative and basically try some things that have not been done, maybe they can create the future beyond AI.”
Bandyopadhyay teaches a modern distributed computing course where students learn the fundamentals of collaborating computers over a network to serve as one powerful system. While focused on AI, they’re taught to question and solve how they can make systems more reliable, consistent and fast.
Saptarashmi Bandyopadhyay with Akira Kawaguchi, Chair of Computer Science and Co-Chair of Computer Engineering Programs
In addition to his teaching, he is participating in several AI projects funded by grants from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Working alongside CCNY faculty such as Akira Kawaguchi, Camille Kamga, and Irina Gladkova amongst many others, with outside collaborations from New York University and Harvard to name a few, they will all be bridging the gap towards understanding how generative AI agents can be used to find solutions to some of NYC’s biggest problems.
Serving as an academic coordinator for generative AI projects, Bandyopadhyay is employing 9 of his students who will be working on projects such as building engineering to reduce challenges within the housing crisis and AI integrated internet for autonomous transportation for example.
Working alongside electrical engineering professor Dr. Ahmed Mohamed, Bandyopadhyay and his students are using AI to coordinate a smart grid to combat electrical outages during emergencies. Taking notice of electrical issues during Hurricane Sandy and Grand Central’s recent power outage, this project can provide reassurance to New York City’s over 8 million residents.
“Multiple AI agents help because they can automatically monitor if a generator is not doing too well and they can raise those alerts quickly. If one generator goes down, the other AI agent orchestrators can immediately change and have a buffer period before a human can intervene.”
With AI pushing society towards a new and efficient landscape, Bandyopadhyay explains that it must be used ethically and logically. He believes AI generative tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini should be used as search engines rather than trusted sources. Users must go through their own process of fact-checking the information being distributed to them as AI generative tools are meant to “generate probability distributions that are close enough to the input distribution” rather than producing actual facts, explains Bandyopadhyay.
His concerns extend to the environment, where he believes AI’s impact on humans and our ecosystems must be thoroughly examined. “People should not have to compromise with their health, their safety and the air that they breathe in,” says Bandyopadhyay. “That makes us realize where we need AI and how we can deploy AI efficiently, consuming less energy while performing effectively. That’s part of my research point itself. One of my research works improves conservation efforts on rainforests with AI Agents, showing how we can use AI for the better.”
Leandra is an early career journalist with an M.A. in Arts & Culture Reporting and Documentary Filmmaking from The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. With experience reporting for community news outlets such as The Riverdale Press and The Mott Haven Herald, Leandra currently writers for CUNY academic publications The RICC and Research in Focus.