Barışcan Kurtkaya, MSc student in Computer Science and Engineering

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share your background in AI research?

Hi, I am Barışcan Kurtkaya. Currently, I am a KUIS AI Fellow and an MSc student at Koç University. Moreover, I am conducting my research project in the KUIS AI Center, under the supervision of Yücel Yemez. I am interested in generative artificial intelligence, mostly delving into the generation and editing of 2D images and 3D models/scenes, leveraging advancements in deep learning.

What initially sparked your interest in the field of AI? Was there a particular moment or experience that inspired you to pursue this area of study?

During my first year of undergraduate studies, I was a member of a semi-autonomous underwater vehicle team. At that time, I contributed to computer vision algorithms, marking my first encounter with computer vision and pattern recognition. This experience led me to pursue my interest in this area further, which prompted me to learn about deep learning.

Could you tell us about your current research or thesis topic in AI? What motivated you to choose this specific area?

In the last decade, generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, Dall-e, and Midjourney, have shown promising results in various tasks related to Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision, particularly in context understanding and generation controllability. This success leads me to believe that conducting research on generative models is a cornerstone for the next advancement in AI. Consequently, I am working on a project that involves the insertion of 3D objects into 3D scenes by distilling pre-trained deep learning models. Additionally, I hold the conviction that without the integration of self-supervised and unsupervised methods, generative models cannot achieve these results on their own. Therefore, I am also pursuing research in self-supervised object discovery in specific domains, such as observations from space telescopes.

What excites you the most about the potential applications of AI in the real world? Are there any specific domains or industries where you believe AI can make a significant impact?

I believe one of the most exciting applications will be in the field of robotics. Increased research and investment are likely to lead to significant advancements in the industry, which will help overcome challenging problems, such as conducting research in space, oceans, and more.

What are your future career aspirations in the field of AI? Do you have any specific goals or areas of focus that you would like to pursue?

I am planning to become one of the most influential figures in AI, akin to LeCun, Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Kaiming He, and others. To achieve this, I intend to improve my social skills while working hard to create impactful research on the Generative AI through collaboration.