AI Ireland Announces Finalists for the 5th Annual AI Awards Celebrating Innovation and Excellence in Artificial Intelligence

AI Ireland has announced the outstanding finalists for the fifth annual AI Awards, a prestigious event dedicated to recognising excellence and innovation in the fields of Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in Ireland.

The awards ceremony took place at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin’s vibrant Docklands.

As an integral part of the not-for-profit organisation AI Ireland, the AI Awards have played a pivotal role in supporting the growth and development of the AI ecosystem in Ireland. This year’s event featured the presentation of 12 awards, including the introduction of a brand-new category: “Best Application of AI in Sustainability.”

Anne Sheehan, General Manager at Microsoft Ireland said the awards are a great way to celebrate Irish innovation and highlight AI’s transformative potential in society. “Since its inception five years ago, Microsoft has sponsored the AI Awards to celebrate and shine a light on innovation happening in every sector across Ireland – from early-stage research projects to fully scaled-up AI implementations,” she said.  “Right now, we are entering “the era of AI”, where we can explore limitless possibilities to transform the fabric of our economy and society. We are excited about the increasing role of technology to act as a copilot for individuals and organisations to achieve so much more, as is evidenced by these awards.”

Mark Kelly, CEO of AI Ireland and founder of the AI Awards, praised this year’s finalists for showcasing AI’s transformative potential across various sectors, “Their innovations span child online safety, ethical AI in education, enterprise process optimisation, explainable AI, transparency, trust-building, child safety software, and the emergence of young AI role models.”

He added, “Additionally, AI is making strides in addressing environmental challenges, revolutionising early disease detection and healthcare treatment, enhancing medical diagnostics, urban sustainability, and breaking language barriers in content creation. These finalists embody the essence of AI Ireland and the AI Awards, celebrating talent and solutions that positively reshape our world.”

Microsoft Ireland proudly serves as the headline sponsor for the 2023 AI Awards. Additional sponsors include Alldus International, Mazars, GlobalLogic, Mason Hayes & Curran, Dublin City Council, IDA Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, and Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace.

The 2023 AI Awards Finalists:

Best Application of AI to Achieve Social Good

Cilter Technologies: For the development of embedded software aimed at protecting children from cyberbullying and online grooming. Their unique system operates at a deep level, blocking harmful messages and notifying parents to make smartphones safer for children.

Best Use of Responsible AI and Ethics

Soapbox Labs: For the development of unbiased voice AI for educational tools addressing the literacy crisis, with a focus on equity in data handling and modelling, and a commitment to mitigating AI bias to empower teachers and students worldwide.

Best Application of AI in a Large Enterprise

Dell Technologies: Recognised for their collaboration between the Managed Services (DTMS) team and Service Operations Applied Science and Engineering (SOAS) to implement an ML-powered Multi-Layered Framework that enhances incident management and reduces ticket handling times.

AI Person of the Year

Luca Longo: Acknowledged for innovative research in explainable AI (xAI), with a focus on making AI models more interpretable and transparent, impacting human-AI interaction, responsible AI development, human capacity, international engagement, and the economy.

Women in AI Person of the Year

Rena Maycock, CEO of Cilter: Leading a startup developing child protection software for smartphones, addressing cyberbullying and grooming. Rena is a respected columnist advocating for women in tech, advocating for funding equality, and mentoring aspiring female founders.

Young AI Role Model of the Year

Chenyang Lyu: A final year PhD student at DCU with an impressive track record of research, particularly in the application of pre-trained Large Language Models to Question and answering and Multi-modal tasks, resulting in over 15 publications in prestigious conferences and journals.

Best Application of AI in Sustainability

Gemmo.ai: Recognised for developing an API for noise source identification to address noise pollution in Dublin and beyond, aiming to improve health and enhance the quality of life, creating a world where environmental surveillance safeguards the planet.

Best Application of AI in Healthcare

Head Diagnostics & Global Logic: Awarded for their HDx Neuro AI Platform, which addresses the late diagnosis and poor management of Parkinson’s Disease and other neurological conditions, offering digital biomarkers and AI to enable early detection and personalised treatment.

Best Application of AI in a Startup

Data Science Wizards: Honoured for UnifyAI, which solves complex AI development challenges for enterprises, offering an integrated, automated, and open-source platform, accelerating AI adoption and reducing costs with a solid commitment to security and societal impact.

Best Application of AI in an Academic Research Body

Tyndall National Institute: Recognised for their project aimed at developing a miniaturised wearable device with advanced machine learning algorithms for precise Parkinson’s Disease (PD) diagnosis and blood pressure estimation, to improve PD assessment and treatment.

Best Application of AI in a Student Project

Balaji Padmanathan, UCD: Acknowledged for his project focusing on optimising electric vehicle charging station locations in Dublin, to make Dublin more sustainable and serving as a model for global efforts to combat climate change and promote responsible urban development.

Best Use of AI in a Consumer/Customer Service Application

Lip: Addressing the challenge of language barriers in content creation by using AI to generate lip movements that make it appear as if you can speak another language, helping creators reach broader language markets quickly.

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