AI is evolving every day — and David Martin, a technical project manager intern on the trustworthy AI team at NVIDIA, is channeling its power for social good.
Growing up deaf, Martin experienced the limitations of existing technologies, such as the accuracy of closed captioning on streaming platforms. Now, as a computer science student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he’s seeking ways to apply his technical knowledge to improve the accuracy and accessibility of such technology.
In 2021, Martin joined a research lab at his university focused on developing accessible technology for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
His lived experiences drove his research on advancing wearable systems, such as glasses with built-in live captioning capabilities. Another project involved applying AI to create educational games that make learning American Sign Language more accessible to hearing parents with deaf children.
Looking to dive deeper into AI for social good, Martin found his way to NVIDIA, where his responsibilities include advising engineering teams that are working on sign language AI applications and supporting the development of ethical dataset curation tools.
“To build accessible and trustworthy AI models, data collection efforts must be minimally invasive while achieving maximum benefits,” he said. “We develop AI for humans to use, so we need to preserve trust in the system.”
Martin collaborates with various engineering teams to ensure the data they use is unbiased, transparent and secure. He’s also training sign language recognition models and experimenting with features that could provide immediate benefits to the deaf community.
“I offer a voice for my community across the development process of new AI-driven systems that can power positive change,” he said.
In addition to leading his own projects using trustworthy AI principles, Martin has connected with fellow interns through NVIDIA’s University Recruiting program. This summer’s interns — the first to return to office since the pandemic and comprising the company’s largest intern class yet — participated in global events such as career development workshops, a research showcase and a Q&A with NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang.
Martin appreciates NVIDIA’s open culture, which encourages experimenting and connecting with leaders across the company — from legal to robotics. On his mission to improve tech accessibility, he’s broadened his understanding of AI for good through insights from various NVIDIANs.
“I’ve been able to talk with everyone, from executives to other interns, while exploring a variety of disciplines,” he said. “Having exposure to a breadth of people and projects has been very helpful in developing skills that better my community.”
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