AI with AI
Episode 2.15: Darcraft Shadows
In recent announcements, Andy and Dave discuss the National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (Nesta) launch of a project that is ‘Mapping AI Governance;’ MIT Tech Review’s survey of AI and ML research suggests that “the era of deep learning coming to an end” (or does it?); a December 2018 survey shows strong opposition to “killer robots;” China has (internally) released a report on its view of the “State of AI in China;” and DARPA wants to build conscious robots using insect brains, announcing its (mu)BRAIN Program. In research topics, Andy and Dave discuss the recent competition between DeepMInd’s AlphaStar and human professional gamers in playing Starcraft II. MIT and Microsoft have created a model that can identify instances where autonomous systems have learned from training examples that don’t match what’s happening in the real world, thus creating blind spots. Boston University publishes research that allows an ordinary camera to “see” around corners using shadow projection, in essence turning a wall into a mirror – and doing so without any AI or ML techniques. In papers and reports, the Office of the Director for National Intelligence releases its AIM Initiative – a strategy for augmenting intelligence using machines; a report provides a survey of the state of self-driving cars, and another report surveys the state of AI/ML in medicine. Game Changer takes a look at AlphaZero’s chess strategies, while The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book offers a condensed overview of ML. The Association for the Advancement of AI conference (27 Jan – 1 Feb) begins to release videos of the conference, including an Oxford-style debate on the Future of AI. And finally, Andy and Dave conclude with a “hype teaser” for next week – with SELF AWARE robots!