Listen "22 Teaching an AI How to Learn About HVAC"
Episode Synopsis
Donna Vakalis, a postdoc researcher at Mila, Quebec AI Institute, focuses on reducing climate emissions from buildings using AI. Her work involves optimizing HVAC systems without extensive data, employing data-efficient reinforcement learning. Vakalis' research aims to create agents that can control building systems effectively from day one, even without prior experience in the specific building. She uses in-context reinforcement learning, a novel method that adapts to different building conditions. Vakalis' mentors, Joshua Bengio and David Ronik, are leaders in the field. The conversation also touched on the broader implications of AI in urban settings and the high demand for AI talent.
More episodes of the podcast Café Zai: Intelligence for Informed Environments
23 NVIDIA Urban AI
15/12/2025
21 Buildings are Giant Robots
24/11/2025
20 Seven Deadly BIMs
11/11/2025
19 Greenbuild LA 2025 Day 2 : Kimon Onuma
06/11/2025
18 Greenbuild LA 2025 Day 1 : Kimon Onuma
05/11/2025
17 It’s Alive! No More Dead Data
27/10/2025
13 When AI Meets openBIM
09/09/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.