1 – Scientists Can’t Stop AI But They Can Make It ‘Good’
Artificial intelligence is in the media spotlight, with the band of tech movers’ Hawking, Gates and Musk certainly acting as a catalyst but certainly not the only development worth noting. A new report from Tractica, a market intelligence group, recently released a report that predicts more than $40 billion investment by business industries in the next 10 years. AI is everywhere, and the deep learning algorithms and other life-changing arenas are only improving. Many computer scientists behind the scenes are reminding the public that any technology, AI included, can be used for bad and good purposes. AI is not going away, and scientists have an an opportunity to investigate the full rang of risks that AI presents – and brainstorm real solutions for how to avert real dangers.
(Read the full article on CBCNews)
2 – Robotics Company Fanuc Buys Into Industrial Machine Intelligence
Fanuc Corp, the world’s largest manufacturer of auto parts, recently announced a $7.3 million investment in artificial intelligence startup Preferred Networks Inc. The company’s goal is to create industrial robots that use Preferred’s machine learning methods to independently detect and correct production flaws, as well as cooperate with other robots and share learned information via the cloud. ABB Ltd., a rival of Fanuc, made a similar investment in the startup company Vicarious back in November 2014.
(Read the full article on Bloomberg News)
3 – How Hackers Lead the Pack
Machines are already much more efficient at processing and analyzing raw data than human beings, but some humans still have the lead in outsmarting computers. Hackers make it their job to outthink machines. Erik S. Raymond, a developer of open-source software, said recently:
“No A.I. that presently exists can emulate even the most basic hacker skills…Whether that will ever be possible in the future is unknown, and unknowable. We are not in a position to predict what the capabilities of A.I.s will be in 10, 20, or 50 years. Anybody who tells you they can is deceiving you, or, more likely, themselves.”
AI programs can certainly exhibit the skills of a “good” hacker, such as programming, assembly language, debugging, etc. But the one in which AI lags behind is the skill of research, which requires foresight and the power of human ingenuity – which is not yet close to being captured in AI.
(Read the full article on Inverse)
4 – Digital Immortality Exists in New Social Network
The new social network ETER9 is offering humans the ability to capture an “eternal” digital counterpart. This AI replica learns from an individual’s thoughts and actions and is then able to take the place of that person and interact with others through posts and messaging. The “others” includes both humans and virtual beings known as “Niners”, which paints the dissonant, plausible scenario of a social network that is solely inhabited by virtual intelligences.
A section of the site labeled the Cortex forms virtual memories based on their humans, which the AI then uses to maintain its existence. Human users have control over the activity level of their AI self, and can select to stay active forever by activating the Eternity setting. Researchers at MIT announced a similar idea in 2014 called Eterni.me, which is still in beta testing.
(Read the full article on International Business Times)
5 – Tech Startup Vicarious Finds Investors in Tech Giants Zuckerberg, Bezos…the List Continues
The U.S.-based robotics startup Vicarious has won a new batch of high-profile investors in the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, investor Peter Thiel, and Hollywood Actor Ashton Kutcher. Both Samsun and Wipro Ventures have already invested $20 million, according to Vicarious Co-Founder Steve Phoenix. Both companies plan to incorporate Vicarious’ technology into their services. Vicarious was founded by India-born Entrepreneur and Researcher Dileep George and Phoenix in 2010. The company has thus far developed software that cracks “CAPTCHAs”, the strings of slanted and curved letters that websites use as a security checkpoint. Vicarious claims that its algorithm is able to decipher these CAPTCHAs 90 to 97 percent of the time.
(Read the full article on VCCircle)
