Search Results for: machine learning

Apple's recent acquisition of UK-based speech recognition company VocalIQ was done in as mysterious a manner as any of their other acquisitions, with no overt explanation from Apple, and no open reply from the acquired team.

 
 1 - Google Reveals Its New "RankBrain" Artificial Intelligence System

Episode Summary: Dr. Joscha Bach is a software developer and researcher, who is currently developing a cognitive AI framework at  MIT Media Lab and the Harvard Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. In this episode, he speaks about the troubles in projecting when strong AI may be developed, and sheds light on the trends taking us there, including deep and reinforcement learning.

1 - Apple Acquires Artificial-Intelligence Startup VocalIQ
Apple announced its purchase of VocalIQ Ltd., the U.K.-based software developer that is working natural language AI for better interactions between humans and machines. Initial application is Apple's virtual assistant Siri, which will help improve voice command learning and response. The technology could potentially be applied to future technologies such as autonomous cars; VocalIQ last year worked with General Motors Co. on a voice-control systems for cars' navigation and entertainment systems.

Episode Summary:  Do you need a body to think? This is a worthwhile (and also a perplexing) question, and an ongoing debate amongst roboticists. Cognitive Roboticist Dr. Mark Bickhard is part of a field of belief that cognition and intelligence - and maybe consciousness itself - requires embodiment and direct interaction with the world. In this interview, he discusses the concept of normative function and self maintenance in entities, and why this matters when it comes to thinking.

1 - What Emotions Do We Want Robots to Show?

Humanity has the Turing test to evaluate whether humans can distinguish conversing with a machine versus a human, and a machine seems to have been partially triumphant in a June 2014 Turing Competition at the Royal Society. We have the Ada Lovelace test, which is meant to evaluate a computer's creativity i.e. the person who designed a program must not be able to immediately discern how a machine produces its creative works. In August, a panel of scientists at a Robotronica 2015 conference discussed the sorts of emotions that we may want machines to express. This led the article's Author David Lovell to wonder, is time for another test?  How about the Frampton Test, after rock legend Peter Frampton, in which a machine has to give a convincing and emotionally-appropriate test that also stimulates emotional responses in most humans?

Episode Summary: Dr. Ayers provides a comprehensive overview of his development of autonomous underwater robots, intended to help discover and destroy dangerous underwater land mines. He provides his perspective on two major obstacles facing robotics, including the concept of autonomy, providing valuable insight in light of the current events surrounding the development of autonomous AI.

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Guest: Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan, PhD

If the human brain is considered a computer, what does that mean for science and our lives? Could we repair damaged areas, replace damaged parts, or even upgrade our own minds? It might sound like little more than the stuff of science fiction, but with current advances in brain-machine interfaces, science fiction is fast becoming science fact.

Artificial intelligence has it’s advantages. Systematically, over decades of research and development, AI has come to dominate human intelligence in a number of specific and often limited tasks. Yet, AI - at least thus far - has still lagged human intelligence in certain types of rich pattern recognition. For example, AI programs are still comparatively inept with regards to picking up and handling different kinds of objects, and until recently, AI seemed to struggle vehemently in discerning a “cat” from a “dog” on a screen (see: Kaggle).