David Mark Siegel born is an American computer scientist , entrepreneur , and philanthropist. He co-founded Two Sigma , where he currently serves as co-chairman. Siegel was born in [ 7 ] and spent his early childhood in the Bronx, New York and focused on computer science at a young age. After attending Mamaroneck High School , Siegel graduated from Princeton University with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science and he went on to receive a PhD in computer science from the MIT.
There, he conducted research at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and developed thermal and tactile sensors for the Utah-MIT dexterous four-fingered hand, as well as a computational architecture for controlling the system. During this time he founded FarSight Financial Services, the first integrated personal financial services website. In , Siegel co-founded Two Sigma , a New York City-based company that applies data science and technology to financial services.
Siegel has spoken about encouraging employees to branch out from their daily work at Two Sigma, taking on outside engineering challenges and coding competitions. Siegel supports employees contributing to the company's Data Clinic, which uses the pro bono model to connect Two Sigma data scientists on a project basis with the social sector.
In a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund , the Two Sigma Data Clinic data scientists used public data on inspections of oil and gas wells to develop predictive models that could be used to send inspectors to higher risk sites. Siegel writes and speaks frequently about the relationship between technology and society. He has called machine learning the "story of our times," and despite its limitations, such as a lack of common sense , has described it as "the best way anyone has come up with to algorithmically find knowledge in unstructured data.
Siegel has focused on the importance of separating misconceptions from reality when it comes to A. He has also argued that algorithms such as those used by search and social media companies could harm society by "contributing to increasingly slanted and divided views about the issues of the day.
