Robert J. Marks
2: AI Can Write Novels and Screenplays Better than the Pros!
AI help, not hype: Software can automatically generate word sequences based on material fed in from existing scripts. But with what result?“AI rites reel gud!” Seriously, the idea is not new. Back in the 1940s, George Orwell (1903–1950) thought that a machine could write popular novels so long as no creative thinking was involved. Thus, in his 1984 police state world, one of the central characters has a job minding a machine that mass produces them. In the 1960s, some film experiments were done along these lines, using Westerns (cowboy stories). At the time, there were masses of formula-based film material to work with in this popular genre. But what does the product look and sound like? In 2016, Ars Technica was proud to sponsor “the first AI-written sci-fi script:” As explained in The Guardian, a recurrent neural network “was fed the Read More ›
3: With Mind-Reading AI, You Will Never Have Secrets Again!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Did you read about the flap they had to cut out of a volunteer’s skull?The Daily Mail is the United Kingdom’s second largest circulation daily. A headline from the webpage screams: No more secrets! New mind-reading machine can translate your thoughts and display them as text INSTANTLY! Not a lot of nuance there. The story continues on a tidal wave of hyperbole, • Researchers say they have developed a machine that can translate our thoughts • The astonishing machine will analyse what you are thinking and display it as text ending with a charitable hope: • Scientists hope that the machine can be used by people who are unable to speak The reality is that AI can read your mind for a few words repeated often if you have a flap cut out of your skull and Read More ›
4: Making AI Look More Human Makes It More Human-like!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Technicians can do a lot these days with automated lip-syncs and smiles but what’s behind them?
5: AI Can Fight Hate Speech!
AI can carry out its programmers’ biases and that’s all
6: AI Can Even Exploit Loopholes in the Code!
AI adopts a solution in an allowed set, maybe not the one you expected
7: Computers can develop creative solutions on their own!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Programmers may be surprised by which solution, from a range they built in, comes out on top
8: AI Just Needs a Bigger Truck!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Can we create superintelligent computers just by adding more computing power?
9: Will That Army Robot Squid Ever Be “Self-Aware”?
AI help, not hype: What would it take for a robot to be self-aware?
10. Is AI Really Becoming “Human-like”?
AI help, not hype: Here’s #10 of our Top Ten AI hypes, flops, and spins of 2018
Study Shows Eating Raisins Causes Plantar Warts
Sure. Because, if you torture a Big Data enough, it will confess to anything
Quantum Randomness Gives Nature Free Will
Whether or not quantum randomness explains how our brains work, it may help us create unbreakable encryption codesWhen I was boy, my father explained free will and predestination to me: I dig a fence post hole. · Did I create the hole because of my own free will? · Or was the hole already there and I simply removed the dirt? If true, the hole was predestined. The question cannot be answered by examining the evidence. In philosophy terms, it is “empirically unanswerable.” That is the sort of stuff that philosophers debate. Religious people might point to scripture to support one conclusion over the other.1 In physics, however, quantum randomness offers a definitive answer to the question of predestination vs. free will—for subatomic particles. In the world of classical physics (Isaac Newton’s physics), it can be argued Read More ›
McDonald’s, Meet McPathogens
What happens when the drive to automate everything meets the Law of Unintended Consequences?
Human Consciousness May Not Be Computable
One model of consciousness would mean that conscious computers are a physical impossibility
Slaughterbots
Is it ethical to develop a swarm of killer AI drones?
Could HAL 9000 ever be built?
I say yes. Some reflections on the 50th Year Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Screenwriters’ Jobs Are Not Threatened by AI
Unless the public starts preferring mishmash to creativity
AI That Can Read Minds?
Deconstructing AI hype
Why “Mind Matters” Matter
Mind Matters is a podcast and a news and commentary site where “artificial and natural intelligence meet head-on.” That’s a great slogan, but what does it mean? As your host for the podcast part of the site, I thought I’d take advantage of my role to talk you about some of our exciting plans for both the podcast and the online journal (the latter to be edited by science journalist Denyse O’Leary). Here’s a quick run-down: Topics Mind Matters will track the latest developments in applied AI and technology. How will AI continue to augment human performance and abilities? What are the latest innovations of AI? And how does AI affect you? How is AI applied in pricing your admission Read More ›