Latest news with #CarnegieMellonUniversity
Economic Times
a day ago
- Automotive
- Economic Times
Meet Ashok Elluswamy, the engineer who made Elon Musk's Tesla more than just a car company
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP of AI, was the first engineer hired for the Autopilot team in 2014. He now leads Tesla's Autopilot and AI software programs, crucial for achieving full self-driving. Musk credits Elluswamy and his team as vital to Tesla's AI advancements, transforming the company into a leader in the global AI race. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads So, who exactly is Ashok Elluswamy? Nine years ago, Elon Musk put out a tweet that would quietly set the stage for Tesla's transformation:'Ramping up the Autopilot software team at Tesla to achieve generalized full autonomy. If interested, contact autopilot@ June 2, 2025, Musk reshared that 2015 tweet, adding a rare note of appreciation:'This tweet 9 years ago was how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed…'He wasn't done. In another post earlier in 2024, Musk emphasized just how vital Ashok Elluswamy has been to Tesla's journey:'Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomy supplier that doesn't exist.'The Man Behind Tesla's AI: Currently Tesla's Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy leads the company's Autopilot and AI software programs—efforts that are central to its push for full self-driving. He was the first engineer hired for the Autopilot team back in 2014, and since 2019, he has been in charge of Tesla's AI division, overseeing everything from neural networks to real-time decision-making in San Francisco, Elluswamy holds a Master's degree in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor's in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. Before joining Tesla, he worked at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems and interned at Volkswagen's Electronic Research Lab, where he contributed to early autonomous driving over a decade at Tesla, Elluswamy has become one of its longest-serving—and most quietly influential—figures. From being the first person Musk hired to now leading Tesla's cutting-edge AI efforts, he's played a pivotal role in shifting Tesla from an electric carmaker to a frontrunner in the global AI Musk may be the public face of Tesla, but Ashok Elluswamy is clearly one of the minds helping drive it into the future.
Hypebeast
4 days ago
- Science
- Hypebeast
You Can Now Turn Text Prompts Into Lego Designs With LegoGPT AI
Summary Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have unveiled a groundbreaking newAImodel called LegoGPT, designed to bridge the gap between natural language and physical creation. This innovative system can transform text prompts into fully buildable LEGO models, specifically focusing on vehicles. Imagine simply typing 'a red sports car with big wheels' or 'a blue spaceship with pointy wings,' and having the AI instantly generate instructions for assembling it with LEGO bricks. That's the promise of LegoGPT. The system operates by understanding natural language and processing and interpret the descriptive elements of a text prompt. It then translates the words into LEGO geometry, turning concepts into a 3D LEGO model, taking into account the unique constraints and connectivity of LEGO bricks. It provides step-by-step instructions that a human builder can follow to construct the physical model. According todezeen, the team, which is led by Ava Pun, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and one of the study's coauthors, hope to expand the AI model beyond LEGOs to give it real-world applications to help 'architects design structurally sound buildings or designers create custom furniture.' Pun shared with the publication, 'We wanted to bring user imagination into the physical world. Imagine if you could type in a prompt or show us a picture of a chair, and boom – we could actually make that product and ship it to you in a week or two.' This development is a significant leap in AI's ability to translate abstract ideas into tangible forms. It showcases advancements in generative AI, computational design, and robotics, demonstrating how AI can aid in creative design and engineering processes. While currently focused on vehicles, the potential applications for LEGO-GPT are vast, from educational tools to rapid prototyping and even assisting LEGO designers themselves. It's a playful yet powerful example of AI moving beyond virtual spaces into the realm of physical construction.
Hans India
4 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
Why AI can't replace you: Not anytime soon, anyway
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries worldwide, but the fear that it will replace human jobs on a massive scale is overblown. The reality is more nuanced: AI will change how we work, create new job opportunities, and enhance human roles rather than eliminate them entirely. AI Creates More Jobs Than It Replaces According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, AI may displace 85 million jobs globally. However, it is expected to generate 97 million new jobs that blend human skills with AI capabilities. These emerging roles often focus on data analysis, AI support, robotics maintenance, and designing human-centered technologies. This highlights that AI is not just taking jobs—it's also creating them. AI Has Clear Limits While AI excels at routine, repetitive tasks like sorting emails or processing numbers, it struggles with complex decision-making, emotional intelligence, and creativity. Research from Carnegie Mellon University revealed that AI-led companies in simulations often made poor judgments and failed to adapt to real-world challenges. This confirms AI's current inability to replace uniquely human qualities like empathy and common sense. AI as a Collaborative Tool, Not a Replacement In healthcare, AI assists doctors by organizing data, scheduling, and analyzing test results—freeing up time for patient care. Similarly, businesses use AI to improve customer service efficiency and reduce paperwork, but human intervention remains vital for handling complex issues and personal interactions. AI works best as a support system, augmenting rather than replacing people. New Work Models and Changing Roles Some companies are hiring freelancers to work alongside AI tools, creating hybrid jobs that leverage human strengths in areas like creativity, problem-solving, and emotional connection. Entry-level jobs involving simple coding or data checking may shrink, but employers increasingly seek adaptable workers who excel in teamwork and flexible thinking. The Importance of Reskilling To thrive in the AI-driven workplace, continuous learning is essential. Educational institutions are updating curricula to include AI literacy, critical thinking, and digital skills. Preparing workers to use AI tools effectively will open doors to the new jobs AI creates. AI Helps Address Workforce Shortages In sectors like healthcare and customer service, AI fills gaps caused by labor shortages. Chatbots handle routine inquiries, and management software streamlines data tasks, allowing human workers to focus on meaningful, complex work. Human Skills Remain Irreplaceable Jobs requiring empathy, leadership, creativity, and trust-building—such as teachers, nurses, managers, designers, and counselors—are safe from AI takeover. These roles depend on the human touch that AI cannot replicate. The Future: Humans and AI Working Together The future workplace will emphasize teamwork between humans and AI. While AI handles speed and routine tasks, humans bring emotion, judgment, and creativity. This partnership can improve business efficiency, service quality, and reduce worker stress, but it demands openness to new skills and ways of working. AI is not here to steal jobs—it's a powerful tool changing how work is done. Some jobs will disappear, but more new roles will arise. Staying flexible, learning continuously, and embracing AI as an ally will unlock future opportunities. The real risk is not technology itself, but being unprepared for the changes it brings. With the right mindset and skills, the evolving world of work holds great promise for both humans and machines.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Special Tony for educators goes to NYC high school teacher who urges students to 'step out the box'
NEW YORK (AP) — The special Tony Award that honors educators is going to a New York public high school teacher who shows how theater skills can apply to a career in the arts — and also far away from it. 'My platform is career focused,' says Gary Edwin Robinson. 'So, as I am working with my students, it's always, 'How is theater going to help develop you in whatever area you're going into?'' Robinson, head of the Theatre Arts Program at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, will receive the 2025 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 8 at the Tony Awards in New York City. 'I love what I do, and I get up and I go to work every morning and I go to the theater. It's a black box theater and the theater just happens to be in a school, but it's theater to me. There's no distinction,' he told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement. Robinson teaches five drama classes a day, offering an average of 95-100 students a three-year sequence of 45-minute parts. 'My thing is 'Go explore and find yourself in this thing called theater,'' he says. Year one is teaching the foundations of theater arts and performing. 'I encourage my students every time they come to class to step out the box, explore, try something new today.' Year two is more text-based, as students explore playwriting and do character analysis. The third year pulls it all together at the school's black box theater. Even if a student is poised for a life in athletics, Robinson says theater skills can help: Theater can make you a better communicator and can even help when you do commercial endorsements. The annual Excellence in Theatre Education Award bestowed by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University recognizes U.S. educators who have 'demonstrated exemplary impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession.' 'Edwin's dedication to empowering the next generation of artists, both on and off the stage, is both profound and inspiring,' said Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian in a statement. 'Carnegie Mellon University is thrilled to help recognize his impact in arts education and to celebrate his record of equipping students with the skills, confidence and community needed for lifelong success.' Robinson graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, focusing on music and art. He played the flute and was a second baritone in the school's choir. Robinson went on to the Dance Theatre of Harlem and then to Howard University, where he earned his bachelor's in theater education. He earned an honorable mention in the education category at the 2023 Tonys. He has leaned on the Arthur Miller Foundation Fellows Program and Broadway Bridges Program to take his students to Broadway shows. This season, they've seen 'Hell's Kitchen,' 'Gypsy,' 'A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical' and 'John Proctor Is the Villain.' 'We don't call them trips. I call them theater experiences,' says Robinson. 'It's not a trip and a day out. You're exploring what you learned in class through your drama book and textbook. What do you see on the stage happening? What did you learn in class and how do you make those connections?' After seeing a show, Robinson is often asked by his students when they are going back, so eye-opening has the experience been. 'Many of them walk around the whole day holding the Playbill. I said, 'You can put it away.' But it's like this little Broadway treasure that they have in their hand. And that makes me proud because I know that it has had a major impact on them.' The award includes a $10,000 prize for the Theatre Arts Program and a pair of tickets to the Tony ceremony and gala. Robinson's students will also receive a visiting master class taught by Carnegie Mellon drama professors. A panel of judges comprised of the American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League, Carnegie Mellon and other leaders from the theater industry selects the winner, from candidates submitted by the public. Many of Robinson's students have gone on to careers in the arts — one is on tour in 'Moulin Rouge,' another is a manager at the famed Apollo Theater and another just finished a TV show. 'The ones that are teaching theater, that's the gift to me,' he says. 'When you have these students that are holding positions in professional organizations in the theater, film, and television, that's another award out there. It lets me know that I've done my job and I connected with students and it's worked.' —-
5 days ago
- Entertainment
Special Tony for educators goes to NYC high school teacher who urges students to 'step out the box'
NEW YORK -- The special Tony Award that honors educators is going to a New York public high school teacher who shows how theater skills can apply to a career in the arts — and also far away from it. 'My platform is career focused,' says Gary Edwin Robinson. 'So, as I am working with my students, it's always, 'How is theater going to help develop you in whatever area you're going into?'' Robinson, head of the Theatre Arts Program at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, will receive the 2024 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 8 at the Tony Awards in New York City. 'I love what I do, and I get up and I go to work every morning and I go to the theater. It's a black box theater and the theater just happens to be in a school, but it's theater to me. There's no distinction,' he told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement. Robinson teaches five drama classes a day, offering an average of 95-100 students a three-year sequence of 45-minute parts. 'My thing is 'Go explore and find yourself in this thing called theater,'' he says. Year one is teaching the foundations of theater arts and performing. 'I encourage my students every time they come to class to step out the box, explore, try something new today.' Year two is more text-based, as students explore playwriting and do character analysis. The third year pulls it all together at the school's black box theater. Even if a student is poised for a life in athletics, Robinson says theater skills can help: Theater can make you a better communicator and can even help when you do commercial endorsements. The annual Excellence in Theatre Education Award bestowed by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University recognizes U.S. educators who have 'demonstrated exemplary impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession.' 'Edwin's dedication to empowering the next generation of artists, both on and off the stage, is both profound and inspiring,' said Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian in a statement. 'Carnegie Mellon University is thrilled to help recognize his impact in arts education and to celebrate his record of equipping students with the skills, confidence and community needed for lifelong success.' Robinson graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, focusing on music and art. He played the flute and was a second baritone in the school's choir. Robinson went on to the Dance Theatre of Harlem and then to Howard University, where he earned his bachelor's in theater education. He earned an honorable mention in the education category at the 2023 Tonys. He has leaned on the Arthur Miller Foundation Fellows Program and Broadway Bridges Program to take his students to Broadway shows. This season, they've seen 'Hell's Kitchen,' 'Gypsy,' 'A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical' and 'John Proctor Is the Villain.' 'We don't call them trips. I call them theater experiences,' says Robinson. 'It's not a trip and a day out. You're exploring what you learned in class through your drama book and textbook. What do you see on the stage happening? What did you learn in class and how do you make those connections?' After seeing a show, Robinson is often asked by his students when they are going back, so eye-opening has the experience been. 'Many of them walk around the whole day holding the Playbill. I said, 'You can put it away.' But it's like this little Broadway treasure that they have in their hand. And that makes me proud because I know that it has had a major impact on them.' The award includes a $10,000 prize for the Theatre Arts Program and a pair of tickets to the Tony ceremony and gala. Robinson's students will also receive a visiting master class taught by Carnegie Mellon drama professors. A panel of judges comprised of the American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League, Carnegie Mellon and other leaders from the theater industry selects the winner, from candidates submitted by the public. Many of Robinson's students have gone on to careers in the arts — one is on tour in 'Moulin Rouge,' another is a manager at the famed Apollo Theater and another just finished a TV show. 'The ones that are teaching theater, that's the gift to me,' he says. 'When you have these students that are holding positions in professional organizations in the theater, film, and television, that's another award out there. It lets me know that I've done my job and I connected with students and it's worked.'
