PNNL

Artificial intelligence is all around us; it's in our selfies, it's in mapping apps that take us to the closest place for food, and it’s in the apps that help us translate other languages.

Data scientist Courtney “Court” Corley leads research to make artificial intelligence more reliable, safe, and secure. At PNNL, Corley directs the Center for AI @PNNL, which advances the frontiers of artificial intelligence while growing and attracting a mission-driven AI workforce. He also leads PNNL’s Generative AI for Science, Energy, and Security investment, applying generative AI across the breadth of PNNL’s missions.

"AI is really about enabling humans to do more meaningful work and offloading other things to a machine," Corley said. "Think about looking at a cell under a microscope—it’s actually a very strenuous task over time. Scientists can alleviate this burden by teaching a computer to learn if an organism is abnormal or if it has been exposed to a toxin. This involves answering questions like ‘How do you tell a computer what “normal” looks like? How can you build a computer model to be able to detect that abnormality in future images?’"

Corley led a team that developed the AI-based software called Sharkzor, which revolutionized image classification. Instead of AI doing all the work to understand, Sharkzor starts with a user who teaches it how to categorize images. Then, Sharkzor tries a few itself and the user fixes its mistakes until Sharkzor gets the hang of it. This cycle of learning lets AI learn faster, requiring a lot fewer examples at the start. By combining human interaction with machine learning techniques, Sharkzor allows for classification using just five to 10 images—far fewer than the hundreds or thousands typically needed.

But with AI infused into daily tasks, Corley and his colleagues are working to keep it safe. The key to security is protecting the data. “Design it right, and AI itself will then learn the best ways to go about protecting applications,” he said.

In addition to leading AI-related research initiatives, Corley has also taught at Washington State University Tri-Cities and has organized many conference events for professional societies such as the Association of Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the International Society for Disease Surveillance.

More Information

PNNL Staff Biography

LinkedIn profile

X: @courtcorley

Pacific Northwest National Lab’s chief scientist for AI finds links between tech and national security Jan. 3, 2024, GeekWire

Listen to Court Corley talk about the "Golden Age" of artificial intelligence, AI–human teams, and how AI is like the early days of penicillin on Direct Current - An Energy.gov Podcast (22:39)