Resoundingly Human: Food lacking flavor? Sprinkle on a little AI!

02/13/20 • 14 min

It’s Friday night, you’re cooking dinner for your friends or family. The wine is poured, the table is set. You’re preparing a favorite recipe, but have added a brand new spice mix to the dish. It smells amazing, and everyone agrees, it tastes even better. But where did this new seasoning come from? The answer? Artificial Intelligence!

To talk about this fascinating new application of AI, the result of a partnership between IBM and McCormick, I am joined by Robin Lougee, Research Industry Lead with IBM.

To talk about this fascinating new application of AI, the result of a partnership between IBM and McCormick, I am joined by Robin Lougee, Research Industry Lead with IBM.

Previous Episode

Resoundingly Human: Can doctor ego impact your diagnosis?

Operations research and analytics play a key role in advancing medical technology and methodology, with improvements to diagnostic testing, both conventional and AI-based tools, helping doctors more easily and accurately identify and treat medical conditions, providing better patient outcomes.

But what happens if doctors aren’t using these tools, either out of concern over the costs incurred by the patient, or because they hold their own personal diagnostic abilities in higher regard, relying on that over diagnostic testing?

In this episode, I am joined by Tinglong Dai with the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School and the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, as well as his coauthor, Shubhranshu Singh also with the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, as well as the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. Their research titled, “Conspicuous by its Absence: Diagnostic Expert Testing Under Uncertainty,” in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, looks at barriers that stand in the way of more consistent adoption of diagnostic tools, including AI, that can aid in a physician’s diagnosis.

Next Episode

Resoundingly Human: Is your bias affecting my meal?

When we travel to a new place, whether for long overdue vacation, a work trip, or simply a day trip someplace we’ve been meaning to check out, many of us rely on review platforms such as TripAdvisor and Yelp to help us plan our visit. In particular, we look for guidance and advice in selecting restaurants, making choices based on how previous visitors have rated their own experience.

But how accurate are these reviews really? And adding more ‘food’ for thought, how much of a role does personal bias play when it comes to these reviews, and exactly what factors contribute to that bias?

To learn about some surprising ways in which bias impacts online reviews, in this episode I am joined by Marios Kokkodis, professor with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, whose study, “Your Hometown Matters: Popularity-Difference Bias in Online Reputation Platforms,” is slated for publication in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research.