They Say the New Delivery Service Is a Robot…
But of course there is a human (many, possibly) in the loopWhy do some PR agencies think it is so important that we forget the fellow human beings who help us, using robotic devices?
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Can We “Evolve” Self-Driving Cars?
The new method may be an advance but thinking of it as "evolution" at work risks misconceptionsIn evolution, “performance” just means the continued survival of a lineage. Thus it can include hybrids between what you might want for your purposes and what you don’t want.
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Tell Kids the Robot Is “It,” Not “He”
Teaching children to understand AI and robotics is part of a good education todayWe are not truly likely to be ruled by AI overlords (as opposed to powerful people using AI. But even doubtful predictions may be self-fulfilling if enough impressionable people come to believe them. Children, for example. We adults are aware of the limitations of AI. But if we talk about AI devices as if they were people, children—who often imbue even stuffed toys with complex personalities—may be easily confused. Sue Shellenbarger, Work & Family columnist at The Wall Street Journal, warns that already, “Many children think robots are smarter than humans or imbue them with magical powers.” While she admits that the “long-term consequences” are still unclear, “an expanding body of research” suggests we need to train children to draw Read More ›
Will Government Intervention Solve High-Tech’s Problems?
At the COSM summit in October, a Wall Street Journal columnist will make the case for noAndy Kessler, Inside View columnist at The Wall Street Journal “on technology and markets and where they intersect with culture,” is a skeptic of Big Regulation. He has seen the issues from a variety of positions, having been both a software designer and an investment broker.
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Pursuit of the AI Singularity Is Modern Alchemy
Just as lead cannot just become gold, software cannot just become creative
Is Technology a Tool or a Tyrant?
A conversation between tech entrepreneurs Jack Ma and Elon Musk outlines some choicesLast week noted U.S. technologist Elon Musk and Alibaba executive Jack Ma engaged in a friendly debate at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. The two agreed on a lot. AI is useful, it isn’t going anywhere, and the technology will continually improve. Where they differed is what it means for us humans. For Ma, technology is a tool for our benefit. In his thinking, our technological future will bring us to a point where the average person need only work a few hours a week. Technology will automate away most of the treacherous or dull tasks and allow us to spend more time being human, engaging in the arts, and engaging with each other. Musk’s view of technology Read More ›
If AI dumbed us down, would we even know?
Silicon Valley pros face the challenges head-on
Will Industry Pressure Loosen Self-Driving Car Tests?
Right now, the regulatory agency is under pressure to accept the industry’s “softball” testing suggestions
Will we become mere apps of our smart machines?
At COSM, Ray Kurzweil will offer a glimpse of his foreseen Singularity where we merge with superintelligent computersHe believes that the merger will eventually make the whole universe intelligent. Kurzweil’s critics believe that the superintelligent computers he needs can’t exist. If the critics are correct, we have misread the AI revolution.
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Computers’ Stupidity Makes Them Dangerous
The real danger today is not that computers are smarter than us, but that we think computers are smarter than usMany marketing decisions, medical diagnoses, and stock trades, loan and job applications, and election strategies are evaluated by computers. But, as my little experiment shows, the computer does not know whether a pattern is information or noise.
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The Top Ten AI Hype Stories of 2018, Updated
You can segue to each in the podcast and read the accompanying Mind Matters News story, as well as key updates
How Far Has AI Mindreading Come?
Further than we may think. And some trends are troubling
Machines Are Not Really Learning
A bit of machine learning history helps us see why
Are self-driving cars really safer?
A former Uber executive says no. Before we throw away the Driver’s Handbook…
Sorry, AI can’t do our thinking for us
J. C. Derrick asked Robert J. Marks whether AI can outthink people or make humans immortal
Nigerian Teens Create Sci-Fi With Cracked Smartphone
They love sci-fi and, well, if you are going to start, you have to start somewhereThe teens' project, Critics Company, has alerted people to the possibilities of digital media like YouTube to tutor themselves in skills that can fetch money or jobs or even help them start their own businesses.
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How self-driving cars can really work today
At Mind Matters News, we advocate self-driving technology that doesn’t confuse human and machine powers
Confirmed: DeepMind’s Deepest Mind Is on Leave
The chess champ computer system just never made money
Fan Tries Programming AI Jazz, Gets Lots and Lots of AI…
Jazz is spontaneous, but spontaneous noise is not jazzAs Gioia says, jazz depends on the “personality of the individual musician.” And the blindspot of AI creativity is: There’s no one home.
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A Silicon Valley Insider Asks the Awkward Questions
Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, speaking at COSM in October, has a history of challenging Valley orthodoxiesHis question, “How can Google use the rhetoric of ‘borderless’ benefits to justify working with the country whose ‘Great Firewall’ has imposed a border on the internet itself?”, is timely. China’s government uses high tech for, among other things, sophisticated racial profiling.
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