Machine Learning, Security, and Practice: a Reflection
Seminar University of Genoa
Genoa, Italy
Oneliner: Yet-another talk based on our SaTML23 paper
The process that led to me giving this talk is truly unique—and it originated 4 years prior, in October 2019. Back then, I was in the process of writing my PhD dissertation, and I was told that Prof. Fabio Roli (alongside Prof. Jay Yang, from RIT) was going to be one of the reviewers for my dissertation. A few months later, after submitting the document, I received the feedback which was very positive and was rich with useful feedback. I did my best to integrate all the suggestions before delivering the final version of the dissertation. Despite me knowing Prof. Roli very well (at least from a “research” perspective), I did not have any direct exchange with him… until 2023. Indeed, in January 2023 I received a –completely unexpected– email from Prof. Fabio Roli, wherein he was complimenting me for my recently accepted SaTML23 paper. I thanked him of course, but the conversation ended here. However, a few months later (March 2023), I learned that my thesis was chosen as the best of my PhD Cycle at UnIMoRe: given that Prof. Roli was among the reviewers (who “helped” me in improving the thesis), I couldn’t stop myself from sending him an email with my most sincere thanks… and he “thanked” me by inviting me to hold a research seminar in the “Trustworthy AI Seminar Series” at the Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics, and Systems Engineering (DIBRIS) at the University of Genoa—an invitation that I couldn’t refuse.
Giving this talk was really entertaining. The room was packed-full with attendees (at both the MSc, PhD, and PostDoc+ levels). After the 60m long talk, the audience asked a lot of insightful question which I really enjoyed providing an answer to. Moreover, after the “official” end of the talk, I also had the opportunity to talk with many researchers within the DIBRIS. Plus, and more importantly, this set the foundation for some exciting new research collaborations with the people at DIBRIS. I can only look forward to what will come next!