AI Magazine - Spring 2017

er costs for the main conference. In addition, there will be a rehaul of the AAAI website, resulting in a one-time expense for the Association. Kambhampati added that he would like the association take on further commitments, given the current large surge in interest in AI, and would like to use the full 5 percent if opportunities arise to do so.

After some further discussion, Tom Dietterich moved to approve the budget, Senator seconded the motion, and the budget was approved unanimously.

In further financial news, Senator noted that he had circulated the tax return to the Council. This is a good practice required by our auditor to retain transparency in the process. Finally, Senator announced that he will be transitioning out of the Secretary-Treasurer position at the end of 2017, and in conjunction with other members of the AAAI Executive Committee, has worked out transition plan. David Smith, who has served on the Finance Committee for several years, will take over as Secretary-Treasurer upon his retirement from NASA, and noted that Smith will attend this and all future meetings during the transition period. Kambhampati thanked Senator for his 14 years of service as Secretary-Treasurer, as well as all his other service for the association.

Membership Committee Kambhampati announced that Blai Bonet will be taking over as the Membership Committee chair. Bonet noted that he will be working with the committee on several issues, including how to develop the affiliates program. The committee will also be reviewing the current list of people who have applied for the Distinguished Speaker program, and will report on this at the February meeting. It is anticipated that a budget will have to be established to pay for some travel for the speakers. Kambhampati noted that we need to reach out to industry members more effectively, as several people have mentioned to him that they were not sure if AAAI is open to them.

Conference Committee
Carol Hamilton reviewed the major
Kambhampati, representing AAAI,
will serve on the advisory board of the
newly formed Partnership in AI,
recently established to study and for-
mulate best practices on AI technolo-
gies, to advance the public’s under-
standing of AI, and to serve as an open
platform for discussion and engage-
ment about AI and its influences on
people and society by drawers. He will
join other industry leaders from Apple,
Amazon, Facebook, Google, Deep-
Mind, IBM, and Microsoft, as well as
representatives from UC Berkeley, the
ACLU, the MacArthur Foundation, and
the Peterson Institute of International
Economics. The first physical meeting
will be February 3 in San Francisco.

Kambhampati is also investigating the possibility of a joint conference with ACM on AI ethics and will be following up on this with the Ethics Committee.

The AAAI office had to migrate their website quite unexpectedly in the past few weeks, and Kambhampati reported that the migration had been completed successfully, just in time for the submission of close to 800 AAAI- 17 proceedings papers.

Finance Committee Ted Senator reviewed the budget approval process for the upcoming year. The budget is officially approved by the Council prior to the beginning of the next fiscal year (the calendar year). Most of the work is done by the staff and most of the data is based on historical trends during recent years. However, where known, the unique costs associated with chosen venues for programs are incorporated into the budget. If new programs or activities have been requested by committees, those are also incorporated into the budget. Senator drew the Council members’ attention to the line in the program that explains how much of the operating reserve will need to be used to support the current projections. He noted that as long as this number is in the 3-5 percent range, it is an acceptable amount. A full set of budget guidelines was circulated to the Council prior to the meeting.

Senator also noted that the projec-
tion for 2016 is a surplus. 2017 will be
a more expensive year due to the high-
differences between the 2016 confer-
ence and the 2017 conference. The
conference technical program will be
significantly bigger with close to 150
additional technical papers accepted
for presentation, including the main
track, special tracks, senior member,
and demo tracks. Other activities will
remain similar to 2016, although the
robotics program will not be held. The
other big difference will be budgetary,
as San Francisco will be significantly
more expensive than Phoenix. This
was reviewed during the budget dis-
cussions. In addition, Yolanda Gil not-
ed that plans were underway for an
Industry Day event, comprising a
series of accessible talks geared toward
industry. Possible days for this event
will be Sunday or Friday following the
main conference. Gil also mentioned
that it would be a missed opportunity
to not reach out to industry, given that
AAAI- 17 is in the Bay Area. Gil has
agreed to spearhead this, but is seeking
volunteers to help design the best pro-
gram and promotion strategy.

The committee discussed other programs or initiatives that would be of interest to industry, including the AI Job Fair, also scheduled for Sunday, IAAI- 17, and highlighting workshops or tutorials that might be accessible. All agreed that good promotion will be important to reach beyond the normal attendees at AAAI. Further discussion revolved around possible fees for the event, the targeted audience, and the scope of the event. Gil said she would do some further investigation to clarify these issues. Kambhampati would like to establish a strong connection to industry and this could be the jumping board to do so.

Symposium Carol Hamilton noted that Gita Suk-thanker will be stepping down as Symposium Chair, and will be replaced by Christopher Geib. The committee is currently seeking a new cochair, and may seek a person outside North America. The Council agreed that international outreach is very important, and that the resulting slight increase in travel expenses was fine.