Inspired by a technology course she enroled in by accident, fourth-year U of T student Sabrina Smai decided to switch gears from the world of medicine to the world of technology. Smai is a philanthropist who is deeply concerned about making a positive impact on the world. She is a strong proponent of using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to drive change.
This year, given her involvement and dedication to the field of AI, Smai was recognized by Microsoft and was given the Most Valuable Professional award by the CEO of the company, Sataya Nedella.
According to Microsoft, the Most Valuable Professional award is given to experts in the field of technology who “bring together diverse platforms, products and solutions, to solve real world problems.”
Smai said that when she received the award in the mail and saw Nedella’s signature on it she “started freaking out.” Smai added that “there are over 10 million people in the tech community around the world and only 4000 people get the award for the MVP.” According to Smai, she is one of the younger nominees to receive the MVP award and believes it was one her most memorable achievements.
Given the significance of the award and her expertise in AI, it is perhaps surprising that Smai went into U of T with the intention of studying life sciences in hopes of one day becoming a doctor: “growing up I always wanted to impact the world in some sense. I just didn’t know how! And the obvious choice was to be a doctor because you would see [the] direct impact you have on the world by helping patients.”
Smai, left, has been working in the tech field since she came to U of T. Photo courtesy of John W.
What caused this switch? Smai said that as a doctor she would “impact one person at a time.” However, in technology she “could impact the world in [a] very, very fast way.” Smai continued saying, “I wanted to be a part of a movement, as opposed to smaller change.”
And so, a drive towards greater impact on a global scale, led Smai to pursue her career in AI. Throughout this career, Smai has participated in several hackathons particularly related to artificial intelligence. It was through these hackathons Smai was first introduced to Microsoft Student Partners. “It’s a program run by Microsoft to help students gain more knowledge in cutting edge technology and really [get] in touch with the tech community. So, I got really involved [with] that.”
While working with technology, Smai has contributed a start-up called E-Terview. E-Terview is an application that uses facial recognition to help people gain confidence in their interviews: “essentially, you record yourself answering interview prompts and through the recording and [the application] would pick up at what part you were feeling nervous and at what part were you not as confident as you were in other areas of your interview,” explained Smai. In helping students succeed and overcome potentially difficult obstacles, Smai said her work on this application was one of her highlights working with AI.
Through projects like E-Terview, Smai could transform and create many other cutting-edge AI tools. These projects were no easy task as they required Smai to work long hours and have a strong dedication to her work. Passion and grit are essential in a field that requires these long hours, and Smai says in a quest to find a job it is beneficial to focus on one’s upheld values and beliefs. Smai is a strong believer in philanthropy and ultimately knew that her “end, end goal” was to help others through technology.
