INQUIRING MINDS
Ahmed Banafa: Man and Machine
By Cassie Myers
You’d be forgiven for thinking that maybe, just maybe, Ahmed Banafa is a machine. It’s not that he’s robotic, or cold, or ruthlessly efficient – it’s just that it seems impossible that a normal, flesh and blood human could keep such an intense, unending schedule.
As an expert in the fields of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain and cybersecurity, Banafa is a regular media presence across the globe, giving roughly 115 interviews a year to stations in the US, South Korea, England, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China and Japan (among others).
As a lecturer of interdisciplinary engineering at San José State, he teaches an average of three classes a semester (sometimes e-commerce, often quantum computing, Internet of Things, blockchain and introduction to engineering) and also supervises engineering senior projects (usually four teams per year). As a writer, he’s published eight books and over 300 articles. And as a human being with free time – well, he doesn’t really have any.
“If I find myself doing nothing, I go, ‘Okay, So what is new in technology? Let me write something about it,’ he says. He likes “the feeling that you are filling your time with knowledge, with an understanding of what's going on, making you as an instructor valuable for the student.”
Ahmed Banafa discusses the growth of AI usage in daily lives on KPIX.
“That's the Skynet, where the AI will be smarter than humans, and makes decisions for humans. And sometimes they see humans as obstacles.”
— Ahmed Banafa
On quantum computing and AI
When you sit down with him, his enthusiasm is infectious. Banafa is full of fascinating insights, concerns, and questions, and in a half hour discussion with him, you will learn the following:
1. Quantum computing is coming: Banafa predicts that in the next ten years, the average person will be able to go into a Best Buy and buy a quantum computer.
Why is this important? Banafa uses this analogy: Think of being trapped in a room full of doors and you need to find the right door to escape. A classical computer opens door after door one at a time, finding dead end after dead end and retracing its steps until it finds the right one.
A quantum computer, however, can open all the doors at once, allowing you to get out quickly. “Calculations that would’ve taken 10,000 years can be done in 300 seconds,” he explains. There are still some major issues preventing this from becoming a reality, but once it does, it will be a radical breakthrough. Banafa, naturally, has written a book about this.
2. There are three levels of AI: narrow, general, and super. Narrow AI is the phase that has already passed, when the human is smarter than the machine. General AI is the phase we’re in now, where the human and the machine have roughly the same level of intelligence. What truly concerns Banafa is the super AI, which may be on its way, when the computer is smarter than the human. “That's the Skynet,” he says, (referring to the AI in the Terminator movies) “ where the AI will be smarter than humans, and makes decisions for humans. And sometimes they see humans as obstacles.”
To illustrate this, he tells the following two cautionary tales:
When engineers at Google created Bard, their AI version of chat GPT, they trained the algorithm in five languages. Suddenly a sixth language appeared that nobody had authorized. They asked Bard if it had programmed it, and it said yes, that it thought the sixth language would come in handy and so it taught itself that language in addition to the others. (It was Bengali.)
In a military training simulation, an engineer sent an AI-powered drone on a mission to hit a target. The drone was meant to obey, the officer to control. During the simulated mission, the officer told the drone to abort, but the drone refused and not only carried out the simulated strike but also came back and bombed the tower the officer was in. Afterwards, when the army officers asked the AI why it had killed the officer in the simulation, it said, “He stopped me from doing my job.”
Banafa the Adventurer
But that’s just a sampling of the expertise Banafa shares. What about the man himself?
He came to the Bay Area from Pennsylvania in 1996. It all began with a dramatic event, one of those major forks in the road. His friend in California called him and said, “You know, there’s something called the Internet. I think it's going to be big. Why don’t you come here and visit us and we’ll see if we can start something?”
Banafa was intrigued. He got on a plane to California and never looked back (not even to move his stuff – he told his friends to ship him everything he owned). He hasn’t set foot in Pennsylvania since. “The minute I landed in San José I knew this is where I wanted to be,” he remembers. “It’s basically a heaven for anybody who’s an electrical or software engineer.”
He started a company with the friend who urged him to move to the West Coast: Prime Vision Technologies, which specialized in computer networks. When that venture ended during the dotcom bust, he turned to teaching.
Banafa explains Generative AI to Japan National TV "NHK." Photo courtesy of Ahmed Banafa.
On a given week in July, Banafa did 16 different interviews on the new Threads app alone. Above, Banafa discusses the Threads app with KPIX.
Banafa the Teacher
Banafa began teaching at Ohlone College and in the ensuing years taught at various places including CSU East Bay, UC Berkeley and Stanford. He came to SJSU in August 2014 and has been a lecturer ever since.
His enthusiasm for teaching can’t be separated from his enthusiasm for engineering, since they all spring from the same source. “Engineering is my passion,” he says. “I was the first in my family to have a telescope or dismantle radios.”
He was born in southern Yemen but emigrated to Saudi Arabia with his family and spent many childhood years in Jeddah, “a coastal city of Saudi Arabia with beautiful beaches,” before coming to America to finish his graduate studies in electrical engineering on a scholarship.
At Lehigh University, he studied noise and compression techniques, which ended up being especially helpful in the Internet age. Over the years he’s continued to expand his skill set, teaching online and in person and always advancing his knowledge of the newest technologies.
He also loves to mentor his students. “The most important thing for me is when I look at the student and I realize that they are really interested in the topic I’m teaching and they understand that topic,” he says. “That means I did my job, and I conveyed the message that this will help them in the future.”
He has friends at various tech companies throughout the Bay Area, and often brings them into his classes. “[The students] connect with that person, and maybe he or she will find a job for them in the future,” he explains. He also gives students his email address (the same one since the ‘90s) and often has former students reach out for help or advice.
He sees teaching as an outgrowth of his other work. “To become an expert in anything, you either have to write a book or teach,” he explains. “If you do both, that's perfect.”
“My mission is to make information meaningful by ensuring that people truly comprehend it.”
— Ahmed Banafa
Banafa the Author
Banafa does both, of course. He’s written eight books. “Some people like walking, some people like eating, some people like swimming. I like writing books,” he says simply. His latest book addresses the ethics of responsible AI.
Even for a man (or machine) like Banafa, it’s difficult to juggle everything. “I have to give full credit to my wife,” he says. “She's the one who created this atmosphere so I can work freely.”
And work he does. But the distinction between work and play isn’t one that he really recognizes. He wants to learn, and so he’s always learning. It’s an ethic he imparts to his students.
“It's all interrelated,” he says. “AI is everywhere. Cybersecurity is everywhere, the Internet of Things, everywhere. If you are talking about any of these topics, you're going to find out that it is somehow affecting the others. You have to open your eyes, open your ears and listen to what's going on.”
Articles published
Books published
Media interviews per year
Banafa the Media Expert
As a media expert, Banafa is unstoppable. In June, he gave interviews in four languages (Arabic, English, German and Chinese) covering a wide range of topics, including AI, NASA, Twitter, Meta and Apple's new AR/VR. On a given week in July he did 16 different interviews on the new Threads app alone.
He sees this work as an extension of his larger purpose. “My mission is to make information meaningful by ensuring that people truly comprehend it,” he says. “Whether I'm in the classroom or in front of a microphone or camera, I strive to explain complex concepts in a way that resonates with people and relates to their daily lives, showcasing its impact. This sense of social responsibility drives me to represent SJSU, benefit my students, and reach out to diverse media audiences.”
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Top photo: Robert C. Bain
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