By day data expert Odartey Lamptey helps Lighthouse Learning Trust colleagues with their data needs. Working in the Management Information Systems team at St Vincent Sixth Form College, Odartey is at the forefront of the Trust’s efforts to embrace all that technology can offer. From producing data reports and dashboards, to using computers to speed up how we work, he loves to solve problems.
By night (and probably every other waking moment) AI enthusiast Odartey is pursuing a PhD with the University of Portsmouth, focusing on AI solutions. And this summer he presented to an audience from across the world at an important computing conference in Bulgaria.
The findings of his research into how AI can help in the fight against terrorism created a real buzz at the three-day event. In its 12th year now, the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Systems also attracted speakers on topics like live cricket score predictions and identifying threats on social media of offensive behaviour.
Odartey’s research – a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth and NATO – digs deep into how computers can be used to model terrorist attacks. His findings could support the military and intelligence services with their daily efforts to keep us all safe.
For Odartey, the feeling of presenting his work at the conference was summarised in one word, “Proud.”
He elaborated on standing in front of a room of peers, “It gives you that joy, that you have something out there that people will want to look at and reference. It’s been a good experience seeing my work out there.”
Odartey reflected on the value of attending conferences, “One of the things you benefit from in academia is talking to people with different sets of knowledge, who are looking at different things.”
Since the event, he has stayed in touch with people he met, chatting and sharing important ideas on the hot topic that is Artificial Intelligence. The potential to make quicker decisions is really attractive to this computer scientist, especially when lives are at stake.
Bringing the debate a little closer to home now, Odartey mused on the dangers of students relying on speedy AI to solve their problems, “The challenge is that they don’t challenge themselves.”
After a nod to the role of teachers in helping young people to use AI appropriately, Odartey continued on this theme.
“As a 16 to 19 year old, you’ve not really helped yourself grow by relying solely on AI for your studies. It doesn’t really help you develop important skills like remembering things and critical thinking. And these skills are, of course, crucial for relating to people and getting work in the future.”
Turning to his future, Odartey’s paper, published in the IEEE Xplore journal and awarded ‘Best Paper at the Conference,’ needs to be updated to get another publication in Springer. A global publisher for researchers, businesses and science, a spot in Springer will offer Odartey’s paper a lasting place on the world stage, next to a whole host of quality content.