Osbert Bastani

Dr. Osbert Bastani


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

8Years (2019-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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26 January 2024 in Bioengineering
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Yan ZhuYan Zhu
Yan Zhu
RSRebecca Salowe
Rebecca Salowe
CCChun Yin Chow
Chun Yin Chow
SLShuo Li
Shuo Li
OBOsbert Bastani
Osbert Bastani
Joan O'BrienJoan O'Brien
Joan O'Brien
Glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, comprises a group of progressive optic neuropathies requiring early detection and lifelong treatment to preserve vision. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are now demonstrating transformative potential across the spectrum of clinical glaucoma care. This review summarizes current capabilities, future outlooks, and practical translation considerations. For enhanced screening, algorithms analyzing retinal photographs and machine learning models synthesizing risk factors can identify high-risk patients needing diagnostic workup and close follow-up. To augment definitive diagnosis, deep learning techniques detect characteristic glaucomatous patterns by interpreting results from optical coherence tomography, visual field testing, fundus photography, and other ocular imaging. AI-powered platforms also enable continuous monitoring, with algorithms that analyze longitudinal data alerting physicians about rapid disease progression. By integrating predictive analytics with patient-specific parameters, AI can also guide precision medicine for individualized glaucoma treatment selections. Advances in robotic surgery and computer-based guidance demonstrate AI’s potential to improve surgical outcomes and surgical training. Beyond the clinic, AI chatbots and reminder systems could provide patient education and counseling to promote medication adherence. However, thoughtful approaches to clinical integration, usability, diversity, and ethical implications remain critical to successfully implementing these emerging technologies. This review highlights AI’s vast capabilities to transform glaucoma care while summarizing key achievements, future prospects, and practical considerations to progress from bench to bedside.

14 July 2020
Verified
Book Chapter
Open access
PDF file
YCYanju Chen
Yanju Chen
CWChenglong Wang
Chenglong Wang
OBOsbert Bastani
Osbert Bastani
IDIsil Dillig
Isil Dillig
YFYu Feng
Yu Feng
In this paper, we present a new program synthesis algorithm based on reinforcement learning. Given an initial policy (i.e. statistical model) trained off-line, our method uses this policy to guide its search and gradually improves it by leveraging feedback obtained from a deductive reasoning engine. Specifically, we formulate program synthesis as a reinforcement learning problem and propose a new variant of the policy gradient algorithm that can incorporate feedback from a deduction engine into the underlying statistical model. The benefit of this approach is two-fold: First, it combines the power of deductive and statistical reasoning in a unified framework. Second, it leverages deduction not only to prune the search space but also to guide search. We have implemented the proposed approach in a tool called Concord and experimentally evaluate it on synthesis tasks studied in prior work. Our comparison against several baselines and two existing synthesis tools shows the advantages of our proposed approach. In particular, Concord solves 15% more benchmarks compared to Neo, a state-of-the-art synthesis tool, while improving synthesis time by 8.71\(\times \) on benchmarks that can be solved by both tools.

1 January 2026 in Management Science
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
HBHamsa Bastani
Hamsa Bastani
OBOsbert Bastani
Osbert Bastani
WSWichinpong Park Sinchaisri
Wichinpong Park Sinchaisri
Workers spend a significant amount of time learning how to make good decisions. Evaluating the efficacy of a given decision, however, can be complicated—for example, decision outcomes are often long-term and relate to the original decision in complex ways. Surprisingly, even though learning good decision-making strategies is difficult, the strategies can often be expressed in simple and concise forms. Focusing on sequential decision making, we design a novel machine learning algorithm that is capable of extracting “best practices” from trace data and conveying its insights to humans in the form of interpretable “tips.” Our algorithm selects the tip that best bridges the gap between the actions taken by human workers and those taken by the optimal policy in a way that accounts for which actions are consequential for achieving higher performance. We evaluate our approach through a series of randomized controlled experiments where participants manage a virtual kitchen. Our experiments show that the tips generated by our algorithm can significantly improve human performance relative to intuitive baselines. In addition, we discuss a number of empirical insights that can help inform the design of algorithms intended for human-AI interfaces. For instance, we find evidence that participants do not simply blindly follow our tips; instead, they combine them with their own experience to discover additional strategies for improving performance. This paper was accepted by Elena Katok, Special Issue on the Human-Algorithm Connection. Funding: This work was supported by the Mack Institute for Innovation Management, the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Open Research Commons, and The Wharton Behavioral Lab. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.02455 .

1 January 2024
Verified
Conference Paper
Open access
PDF file
SLShuo Li
Shuo Li
SPSangdon Park
Sangdon Park
ILInsup Lee
Insup Lee
OBOsbert Bastani
Osbert Bastani
Shuo Li, Sangdon Park, Insup Lee, Osbert Bastani. Proceedings of the 2024 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (Volume 1: Long Papers). 2024.

16 January 2024 in Genome Biology
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
KGKavi Gupta
Kavi Gupta
CYchenxi yang
chenxi yang
KMKayla McCue
Kayla McCue
OBOsbert Bastani
Osbert Bastani
PSPhillip A. Sharp
Phillip A. Sharp
ASArmando Solar-Lezama
Armando Solar-Lezama
Sequence-specific RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play central roles in splicing decisions. Here, we describe a modular splicing architecture that leverages in vitro-derived RNA affinity models for 79 human RBPs and the annotated human genome to produce improved models of RBP binding and activity. Binding and activity are modeled by separate Motif and Aggregator components that can be mixed and matched, enforcing sparsity to improve interpretability. Training a new Adjusted Motif (AM) architecture on the splicing task not only yields better splicing predictions but also improves prediction of RBP-binding sites in vivo and of splicing activity, assessed using independent data.

2 January 2024 in Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
SMStephen Mell
Stephen Mell
SZSteve Zdancewic
Steve Zdancewic
OBOsbert Bastani
Osbert Bastani
We consider the problem of synthesizing programs with numerical constants that optimize a quantitative objective, such as accuracy, over a set of input-output examples. We propose a general framework for optimal synthesis of such programs in a given domain specific language (DSL), with provable optimality guarantees. Our framework enumerates programs in a general search graph, where nodes represent subsets of concrete programs. To improve scalability, it uses A * search in conjunction with a search heuristic based on abstract interpretation; intuitively, this heuristic establishes upper bounds on the value of subtrees in the search graph, enabling the synthesizer to identify and prune subtrees that are provably suboptimal. In addition, we propose a natural strategy for constructing abstract transformers for monotonic semantics, which is a common property for components in DSLs for data classification. Finally, we implement our approach in the context of two such existing DSLs, demonstrating that our algorithm is more scalable than existing optimal synthesizers.