Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
AlphaGo Seals 4-1 Victory Over Go Grandmaster Lee Sedol
March 16th, 2016Via: Guardian: Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program triumphed in its final game against South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol to win the series 4-1, providing further evidence of the landmark achievement for an artificial intelligence program. Lee started Tuesday’s game strongly, taking advantage of an early mistake by AlphaGo. But in the end, Lee was unable […]
Minecraft to Run Artificial Intelligence Experiments
March 14th, 2016Via: BBC: Minecraft is to become a testing ground for artificial intelligence experiments. Microsoft, owner of the popular video game, revealed that computer scientists and amateurs will be able to evaluate and develop AI software using its virtual landscapes from July. The company says Minecraft is more “sophisticated” than existing AI research simulations and cheaper […]
Tesla Hires Former LEGO Executive, Expert in Fully Automated Manufacturing Methods
March 9th, 2016Via: electrek: An interesting fact about lego bricks: the first hands to touch a Lego brick are the hands of a customer since the entire manufacturing process is automated. Granted, plastic blocks are significantly less complicated than li-ion battery cells, but since Tesla hired a long-time Lego manufacturing executive to lead the Gigafactory effort, it […]
Google AI Beats World’s Best Human Go Player
March 9th, 2016Update: Google AI Up Wins Second Match — Via: Independent: A computer programme has won a game of Go against the world’s best player, in a huge breakthrough for artificial intelligence. Google’s AlphaGo computer has beaten South Korean human and Go champion Lee Sedol in the first of five matches. The Deepmind-based computer’s victory in […]
The Crime You Have Not Yet Committed
March 8th, 2016Precrime (today usually spelled “pre-crime”) is a term coined by science fiction author Philip K. Dick. It is increasingly used in academic literature to describe and criticise the tendency in criminal justice systems to focus on crimes not yet committed. Pre-crime has been defined as ‘substantive coercive state interventions targeted at non-imminent crimes’. Pre-crime intervenes […]
U.S. Military Spending Millions on Cyborg Implant
March 8th, 2016“A spokesman for DARPA told CNN that the program is not intended for military applications.” Oh sure. It’s to help the injured vets, save kittens and make rainbows etc. I like the comments from the cognitive scientist interviewed for the piece. “Boondoggle.” “My guess is that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.” And flush go […]
BMW Sees Its Future Shift to Ultimate Self-Driving Machine
March 7th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: BMW AG, which became the world’s largest maker of luxury cars by focusing on Autobahn thrills, is shifting gears to automated driving as urbanization and changing attitudes toward cars redefine transportation.
Driverless Big Rigs to be Trialed in UK
March 6th, 2016Via: BBC: Driverless lorries are to be trialled in the UK, Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm in his Budget speech this month. The Department for Transport said the UK would “lead the way” in testing driverless “HGV platoons”. The technology enables vehicles to move in a group, using less fuel, it said. The […]
New Consumer-Grade Drone’s Autonomous Flying Modes Include Collision Avoidance
March 2nd, 2016Via: The Verge: When drones got smart enough to navigate using GPS, and to follow people around, the naysayers pointed out they still couldn’t see anything. It could follow you, sure, but not while avoiding trees. … That all changes today with the introduction of DJI’s new drone, the Phantom 4. It’s the first consumer […]
Google Unveils Neural Network with “Superhuman” Ability to Determine the Location of Almost Any Image
February 28th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review: Here’s a tricky task. Pick a photograph from the Web at random. Now try to work out where it was taken using only the image itself. If the image shows a famous building or landmark, such as the Eiffel Tower or Niagara Falls, the task is straightforward. But the job becomes […]
