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Episode Summary: Over 100,00 years ago, it may have been advantageous for human beings to be hyper aware of other living things for the purposes of survival. In the future, between the IoT and advances in AI, we once again find ourselves ever more aware. Erik Davis, the author of TechGnosis and a praised journalist and speaker, explores the intersection of the technical, spiritual, and often mystical. In this episode, we discuss how our gut reactions to AI often spring from evolutionary or cultural reasons, and how this shapes our reactions to technology and guides our development of it in the 21st century.

1 - IBM Turns Up Heat Under Competition in Artificial Intelligence

IBM has entered into the open-source software competition, with giants Facebook and Google, by making its SystemML available for public modification through the Apache Software Foundation. The nearly decade-old program could help developers customize machine-learning software for the purpose of an institution's needs. The system is designed to work with Spark software, capable of processing bulk data arriving from continuous sources such as mobile phones. The reasons behind the open program release are multi-faceted, but include recruiting new AI experts and talent.

Eternal life is appealing. Undeniably appealing.

The alluring desire to stave off death (and possibly the very gradual cultural shift away from an acceptance of death) might be part of the cultural underpinnings that have spawned a wave of life-forever artificial intelligence companies. Here's three companies founded to help us reach digital eternity.

 
Episode Summary:
Most of us can admire AI such as Siri, Watson, and other agents shaping the fabric of future AI-powered entities, but it's also possible to admire them as a “dead end”. Dr. Alexei V. Samsonovich is one researcher who believes that we won't be close to perceiving AI as 'conscious' machines until we can grant them the necessary emotional intelligence. Though a lot of progress has been made in field of intelligent agents in the last 10 years, many researchers who are in the same camp as Samsonovich are now on a mission to develop human-like intelligence, cognitive abilities, emotional and social intelligence, and common sense reasoning.

Artificial intelligence has always been based off an understanding of human intellect – but AI “behavior" is not always programmed to actually simulate human beings. In fact, AI tend to be designed to act without the variable wills and idiosyncrasies we recognize in our fellow Man.

I recently came across a TEDx talk by James Cascio that I'm surprised I hadn't seen before. At the present point in technological development, I'm of the belief that provoking contemplation and conversation is about as important a job as science fiction writers and ethicists have, and James seems to have aimed to do just that:

Episode Summary: Dr. James D. Miller, an Economics and AI researcher who received his doctorate from the University of Chicago, sheds light on how economics factors into our increasingly automated world, where development is growing exponentially. We discuss how this acceleration may (or may not) help materialize the "Singularity", the theorized point at which society is so drastically revolutionized by technologies that we never return to our past ways of life.

Facebook's entry into the personal assistant game with it's "M" assistant is actually an interesting view to Facebook's big bet on the future of consumer AI.

Episode Summary: Dr. Danko Nikolic, a scientist at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, asks and works to answer questions about how our physical neuronal connections create the mind's perceptions. In the realm of AI, Danko zones in on learning in a newborn human and compares that to a robot. He asks how we can take human lessons, what’s built into our genome, and apply that to construct a more generally intelligent AI, in a way that is not being done today.

1 - Toyota Invests $1 Billion in Artificial Intelligence in U.S.

Toyota is joining the artificial intelligence race, with a recent announcement that has a five-year plan to invest $1 billion into a Silicon-valley based research and development center for machine intelligence. The entity will be organized as a new company called Toyota Research Institute. Gill Pratt, a former roboticist for DARPA, will lead the new company. The center will focus on artificial intelligence and robotics technologies, as well as technology that helps benefit the rapidly aging population. Research efforts will be honed in on developing cars that are safer and more enjoyable for humans to drive, rather than removing humans from the equation (i.e. self-driving cars). The company plans to hire 200 scientists for its new operations.