Uncertainty in AI

Faculty Leaders: Elaine Treharne and Mark Algee-Hewitt

This workshop focused on “Uncertainty in AI Situations” asks researchers to consider what
an AI can do when faced with uncertainty. Machine learning algorithms whose
classifications rely on posterior probabilities of membership often present ambiguous
results, where due to unavailable training data or ambiguous cases, the likelihood of any
outcome is approximately even. In such situations, the human programmers must decide
how the machine handles ambiguity: whether making a “best-fit” classification or reporting
potential error, there is always a potential conflict between the mathematical rigor of the
model and the ambiguity of real-world use cases.

Some questions asked that begin the process of advancing AI to a new intellectual understanding of the trickiest problems in the machine-learning environment.

• How do researchers create training sets that engage with uncertainty, particularly
when deciding between reflecting real-world data and curating data sets to avoid
bias?
• How can we frame ontologies, typologies, and epistemologies that can account for,
and help solve, ambiguity in data and indecision in AI?