AIoT Hub - (Re)-engineering AI

AIoTHub (formerly IoT North) Community meetup are pleased to present Blesson Varghese in "(Re)-engineering AI"

Abstract:
The widespread deployment of AI beyond the cloud and onto smaller, resource-constrained devices presents a fundamental engineering challenge. While considerable attention has focused on developing increasingly capable models, making ML systems practical in real-world environments requires us to rethink how we engineer them.
In this talk, I will discuss three fundamental challenges that arise when deploying ML systems at scale: they do not run efficiently on small devices, they have inherent sequential dependencies that limit efficient execution, and they are highly memory-intensive. I will present research solutions we have developed to address these challenges, drawing on our experience in designing and deploying distributed and edge AI systems.
Rather than focusing on a particular model or application, the talk will explore the underlying systems problems and the engineering principles behind our solutions. I will show how rethinking the way ML systems are designed and executed can make AI more practical for deployment across resource-constrained environments.

Bio:
Blesson Varghese is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, UK, with over 15 years of UK and international experience designing, developing and deploying large-scale distributed computer systems. His research focuses on edge computing and distributed systems, with an emphasis on translating research into practical systems. He was the recipient of the 2021 IEEE Rising Star Award and held a Royal Society fellowship in partnership with British Telecommunications plc, supporting the translation of his research into real-world applications. He directs the Edge Computing Hub, funded by Rakuten Mobile, Japan, and co-leads research within the UK’s National Edge AI Hub. He has filed over ten patents arising from his research. His research has featured in a New Scientist video series and the documentary Clouded, where he has contributed to raising public awareness of emerging computing technologies.