
Scott Jones
Profile
Biography
I’ve been fortunate to experience some of the most important revolutions in technology during my career, including the advent of the World Wide Web, and more recently, the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence. I was at “ground zero” for both – in 1995 I worked at Netscape, where I helped build the legendary Netscape Navigator web browser. Then in 2013 I did a deep dive into artificial intelligence, starting with a research appointment at Hong Kong Poly U where I worked alongside world renowned AI visionary, Dr. Ben Goertzel, researching the cutting edge of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
In my current role with Singapore Institute of Technology, I'm able to pursue my passion for teaching while also continuing my research in the field of AI. As Singapore's university of applied learning, SIT is a wonderful place for students, faculty, and industry partners to come together and create innovative solutions!
SIT Appointments
- Deputy Head, Design Factory @ SIT– Present
- Chair, ICT Outreach Committee– Present
- Senior Lecturer– Present
Education
- Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) (Honors: magna cum laude)California State University , United States
Achievements
- Patent: I/O Co-processor Coupled Hybrid Computing Device – No. US 7,925,900
Professional Certification
- Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) Certificate in Artificial IntelligenceMicrosoft
- Android Application DevelopmentNanyang Polytechnic
- Certificate in Teaching & Learning (Higher Education)Nanyang Polytechnic
Professional Memberships
- Artificial General Intelligence Society
- Singapore Computer Society
Corporate Experience
- Six Kin Development Pte. Ltd. (Managing Director)
- Avatier Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Managing Director)
- Microsoft Corporation
- Sagent Technology, Inc.
- Netscape Communications Corp.
- NetManage, Inc.
- Scientific Software, Inc.
- Central Point Software
Research
Research Interests
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Third Wave AI
We are currently experiencing the Second Wave of AI, dominated by deep learning and statistical, "big data" approaches to AI. But just around the corner, perhaps sooner than many people realize, is the Third Wave of AI.
Third Wave AI systems will feature dramatic improvements, most notably in their ability for contextual adaptation. They will understand context and meaning, and be able to adapt accordingly. Third Wave AI will not only recognize the cat, but will be able to explain why it's a cat and how it arrived at that conclusion – a giant leap from today's "black box" systems.
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Neuro-Symbolic AI
From the 1970's to the 1990's, the field of AI was driven by heuristic rule-based systems. Known as "Good Old-Fashioned AI" or GOFAI, these systems, which included medical diagnostic applications and chess playing programs, were very good at reasoning, but incapable of learning without reprogramming. By contrast, the last two decades, from the early 2000's to present, have been dominated by statistical machine learning (ML) techniques, which are excellent at learning but have no ability to reason whatsoever. A ML model that's trained to recognize images of cats, for example, can do so with an accuracy level approaching that of humans, yet it has no idea what a cat is. This lack of contextual awareness and inability to explain its results, along with the need for enormous amounts of training data, are major limitations of ML.
Neuro-Symbolic AI (NSAI) represents an attempt to marry the best of both worlds, combining the reasoning abilities of GOFAI with the powerful, automated learning of ML. NSAI aims to build systems that can learn with substantially less data, and that provide understandable and controllable decisions and actions. Many researchers, including IBM Research, view NSAI as a pathway to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
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Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) refers to machines that can perform any intellectual task that a human can. Also called “strong AI” or “real AI,” AGI represents the “holy grail” and the original goal of artificial intelligence research since the 1950s.
Current Projects
- Applying AI to Predict and Reduce Risk in International Shipping– Present
This project, a collaboration between SIT and TradeFlow Capital Management, aims to apply advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor, measure, analyse, predict, and in turn, help manage the risk that a company will face demurrage on shipments of bulk commodities around the world.
Publication
Conferences
Echelon Asia Summit 2019 – How the Coming Third Wave of
AI Will Help Revolutionize EducationHuman X AI – Using AI to Achieve the UN Sustainable
Development GoalsDe/Centralize 2018 – Blockchain/AI/Data: Synergies in the
4th Industrial RevolutionBlockshow Asia 2018 – Singapore, Another Asian
Blockchain Valley?SWITCH / EMPIRICON 2018 – Using AI to Achieve the UN
Sustainable Development GoalsBig Data & AI Asia 2018 – When AI Meets Blockchain:
Decentralized AI for Everyone
Teaching
Teaching Modules
Information and Communications Technology (Information Security), BEng (Hons)
- ICT1004 - Web Systems and Technologies
- ICT1009 - Object-Oriented Programming
Information and Communications Technology (Software Engineering), BEng (Hons)
- ICT1004 - Web Systems and Technologies
- ICT1009 - Object-Oriented Programming
Electronics and Data Engineering, BEng (Hons)
- EDE2102 - Object Oriented Programming
Past
- ICT2902 - Career and Professional Development II
- ICT1008 - Data Structures and Algorithms
- ICT2105 - Mobile Application Development
- CSC2007 - Mobile Application Development
- ICT3102 - Performance Testing and Optimisation