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ISTeC Distinguished Lecture in conjunction with the Computer Science Department and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Seminar Series Keeping the Internet Open with an Open-Source Virtual Assistant Speaker: Monica Lam, Professor, Computer Science Department, Stanford University Abstract:Virtual assistants, such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Home,
are emerging as the super app that intermediates between users and
their Iot devices and online services. As an intermediary, the
virtual assistant sees all our personal data and has control over
the services and vendors we use. A monopolistic virtual
assistant would pose a great threat to personal privacy as well
as open competition and innovation.
This talk describes why the world needs an open-source virtual
assistant to keep the internet open and to protect privacy. Our
solution is the Stanford Almond Virtual Assistant, a research
project to create the world's best open-source virtual assistant
technology that protects privacy via advanced research and
crowdsourcing.
Bio:Dr. Monica Lam has been a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University since 1988. She is the Faculty Director of the Stanford MobiSocial Computing Laboratory. Her research spans the areas of architecture, compilers, distributed systems, machine learning, and human-computer interfaces. Her current research is to develop an open end-user programmable virtual assistant platform that protects users' privacy. She received a PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1987. Prof. Lam is an ACM Fellow, and a co-author of the "dragon book", the most popular textbook in compilers. |