James Scott Berdahl, originally a science writer, first came to KAUST for a five-week writing program covering the 2014 Winter Enrichment Program. Impressed by the opportunities, he applied and was accepted as a Ph.D. student in Earth Science and Engineering under Professor Matthew McCabe. He appreciates the resources at KAUST that enable ambitious research. Why it matters: This highlights KAUST's ability to attract international talent and convert short-term engagements into long-term academic pursuits, strengthening its research community.
This paper introduces ProgramFC, a fact-checking model that decomposes complex claims into simpler sub-tasks using a library of functions. The model uses LLMs to generate reasoning programs and executes them by delegating sub-tasks, enhancing explainability and data efficiency. Experiments on fact-checking datasets demonstrate ProgramFC's superior performance compared to baseline methods, with publicly available code and data.
NYU Abu Dhabi and MBZUAI researchers have developed ARWI, a free web application to help Arabic language learners improve their writing skills in Modern Standard Arabic. ARWI provides essay prompts aligned with CEFR skill levels, features an Arabic text editor, and gives personalized feedback. The tool won the Diversity Award at the Workshop on Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants (In2Writing). Why it matters: This tool can help preserve the quality and personal voice of Arabic writing amid the rise of LLMs.
KAUST is accepting proposals for the Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) 2016 until May 4th, 2015. The program, scheduled for January 10-21, 2016, focuses on climate change and sustainability, aligning with the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The KAUST community can submit ideas for lectures, courses, workshops, and cultural activities. Why it matters: This interdisciplinary program fosters community engagement at KAUST while addressing a critical global issue.
MBZUAI researchers have developed an AI program using vision transformers that can learn a person's handwriting style and generate text in that style. The US Patent and Trademark Office recently granted a patent for this technology, which could aid individuals with writing impairments. The system overcomes limitations of previous GAN-based approaches by processing long-range dependencies in handwriting. Why it matters: This patented AI tool enhances personalized text generation and has potential applications in assistive technology and improving handwriting recognition models.
Researchers at MBZUAI have introduced QRAFT, an LLM-based framework designed to automate the generation of fact-checking articles. The system mimics the writing workflow of human fact-checkers, aiming to bridge the gap between automated fact-checking systems and public dissemination. While QRAFT outperforms existing text-generation methods, it still falls short of expert-written articles, highlighting areas for further research.
KAUST has opened registration for its Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) 2015, which will run from January 11-22. The program features over 100 events centered around the International Year of Light, robotics, and big data. WEP 2015 includes keynote lectures, Saudi cultural events, art workshops, recreational activities, and a film festival. Why it matters: Such programs foster community engagement and promote interdisciplinary knowledge sharing within KAUST.
This article summarizes a talk by Erci Xu on doing computer systems research, focusing on idea generation and paper writing. Xu shares experiences on developing research ideas and provides a tutorial on academic writing principles. He has published 20 papers in venues like OSDI, FAST, ATC, and Eurosys and received awards including two FAST Best Paper Awards. Why it matters: The talk and summary offer valuable guidance for researchers in the Middle East, particularly those at institutions like MBZUAI, on how to conduct impactful computer systems research and effectively communicate their findings in top-tier academic publications.