Jason Mars
Jason Mars (Born May 27, 1983) is an American computer scientist, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his research into computer architecture and artificial intelligence, particularly in the design and deployment of conversational AI. The best-selling author of Breaking Bots: Inventing a New Voice in the AI Revolution, he has been involved in multiple AI initiatives and startups over the course of his career, including ZeroShotBot, Jaseci, Clinc, Myca, and ImpactfulAI. Mars holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Virginia(UVA), and is currently employed as an Associate Professor of Computer Science and  Engineering at the University of Michigan(U-M). He is also acting co-director of U-M's Clarity Lab alongside his wife, Professor Lingjia Tang. There, Mars helps direct advanced research within artificial intelligence, large-scale computing, and coding. Among the lab's most notable projects is the open source Sirius, later rebranded as Lucida. A virtual assistant capable of understanding both visual and auditory queries, Lucida was intended by Mars and his colleagues as a sandbox that would help programmers explore the complexities of speech recognition. Mars also hoped that it would act as a foundation for the development  of hardware better-suited for conversational AI. The project was supported by Google, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation. Jason Mars was one of ten individuals celebrated at the 28th Annual Caribbean American Heritage (CARAH) Awards. Mars received the Vanguard Award from the Institute of Caribbean Studies for his technological impact and "contributions to America and the world." Other winners include Pfizer Principal Scientist for Viral Vaccines Vidia Roopchand and Grammy-winning songwriter Gordon Chambers. Past honorees of the CARAH Awards include former United States Attorney General Eric Holder, former United States Ambassador to  the United Nations Andrew Young and Olympian Usain Bolt. Early life. Childhood and Family. His father, Pairadeau "Perry" Mars, held a Master's Degree in International Affairs and a Ph.D in Political Science. By his own admission, Mars was often viewed as the "black sheep" of the family. Growing up, he had little interest in academia, instead wanting to do nothing more than code. His brother, Pairadeau Mars Jr., on the other hand, was frequently viewed as a genius, receiving an above-average score on the SAT in eighth grade. Mars would later be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity  Disorder (ADHD). Mars was thirteen when he first discovered his love of programming. At the time an avid gamer, he was fascinated by the knowledge that there were programs that would allow him to edit the base code of his games. He taught himself everything he could about C++, and created his first AI when he was a high school freshman. This would eventually lead Mars into the world of hacking and hacker culture. At one point in middle school, he received a suspension for infecting the school's computer network with a virus. When he inadvertently bricked his own  computer via the same virus, he taught himself how to repair it. Education. Mars attended Southfield High in South Michigan, a school in the bottom-third percentile of high schools in the United States. A quiet loner, Mars found himself frustrated at both the school's discouragement of higher learning and his own disinterest in his studies. He felt that he was wasting his time and his potential, and wanted to drop out on more than one occasion. In 2002, Mars attended the University of Pittsburgh to study computer science. For the first two years, he found himself just as  bored as he was in high school. He skipped nearly half his programming lectures, and didn't bother studying for his exams. During his sophomore year, Mars met Professor Mary Lou Soffa, who invited him to join her research group. Mars says this ultimately inspired him to pursue a career in research. In 2006, he began attending the University of Virginia, and obtained his PhD in 2012. Business Career. Google. While pursuing his PhD, Mars also worked as a graduate research intern at Google's Mountain View location. From 2008-2011, he contributed to the design and prototyping of multiple  algorithms and projects. He also co-authored several research papers which received accolades including: Mars also worked as a visiting scientist in 2013, where he performed research into improving the efficiency of Google's backend infrastructure. Intel. In Summer 2011, Mars worked as a research intern at Intel Labs in Santa Clara, California. He returned in Summer 2012 as a research scholar. During this time, he helped design and prototype more power-efficient processors. Clinc. In 2015, Mars along with wife and colleague Tang, and a team of student researchers founded Clinc. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Clinc built upon  the team's previous work with Lucida. By that point, the platform had received inquiries from industries such as finance, automotive, and healthcare for industry-specific AI. Clinc received $1.2 million in seed funding in March 2016, led by eLab Ventures and with participation from Cahoots Holdings and Hyde Park Venture Partners. In June 2016, it also received a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. This would later be expanded to $750,000 in 2017.   According to Mars, Clinc's core mission involves the application of AI science to solving meaningful, substantial problems in people's daily  lives. It launched Finie, its first official product, in 2016. An intelligent personal finance assistant composed of five separate purpose-built AI engines, Finie was marketed as "a Siri for your bank account." In 2017, Clinc raised an additional $6.3 million in series A funding, which it used to hire new staff and further invest in its product. It raised another $52 million in Series B funding in 2019, making it one of the highest-funded AI startups of the year and valuing the business at $200 million By this point, the company had achieved 300% revenue  growth year-over-year since it was founded. Additionally, in 2017, Mars was nominated as the second most innovative CEO in banking, alongside notable names that included PayPal’s Dan Schulman, Clarity Money’s Adam Dell, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, and more. Controversy. Mars resigned from his position as Clinc CEO in 2020 in the wake of employee allegations of inappropriate behavior, including claims of sexual harassment. Mars did not however go on leave from his appointment at University of Michigan though some of his colleagues called on him to take a leave of absence from teaching. There was  also reports of student protests online in late 2020. In a public statement made by the department chair, Michael Wellman, it was revealed that a formal investigation conducted by the University of Michigan on Mars’ conduct concluded that "The university did not find any violations of its sexual harassment policy.” The report also notes an earlier conflicting statement that "Mars engaged in unacceptable behavior and that corrective and preventive actions were being taken." The report ultimately calls on Mars to “take the lead” on rebuilding trust. Jaseci. Drawing on the five years he spent at Clinc, Mars concluded that existing  computational and programming models were "ill-suited for the emerging set of problems in the AI sphere." He further concluded that the solution lay in taking a different approach to how computational models operate. He believed that rather than working in isolation from one another, AI systems should instead leverage collective intelligence. With this in mind, Mars in 2021 developed a new computational model, Jaseci, and a programming language to support it, known as Jac. Based on this technology Mars has created a number of products and companies including ZeroShotBot, TrueSelph, and Myca. Personal life. Mars met his wife, Lingjia  Tang, while attending the University of Virginia. At the time he encouraged her to join Professor Soffa's research lab. Mars and Tang have worked together ever since. Other Activities. TEDx. In April 2020, Mars participated in a TEDx Talk titled "Why conversational AI is taking over our world" hosted at an independently-organized TEDx event. Over the course of the keynote, he gave his insights on the current state of artificial intelligence, and detailed what he feels are the reasons behind the popularity of conversational AI. Breaking Bots. Published on March 16, 2021 by ForbesBooks, Breaking Bots: Inventing A  New Voice In The AI Revolution is an autobiographical work recounting Mars's professional career alongside his insights on the "past, present, and future of AI." In May, it was listed as an Amazon #1 bestseller in both "Artificial Intelligence & Semantics" and "Computer & Technology Biographies."