Nov. 18, 2014

Independent studies by scientists at Google and Stanford University have created artificial intelligence software able to recognize content of photos and videos with such accuracy that it mirrors human levels of understanding; advances may make it possible to better catalog and search for billions of images and hours of video available online; findings appear in Stanford technical report and arXiv.org, open source site hosted by Cornell. MORE

Some scientists say arms makers have crossed into troubling territory by developing weapons, like guided missiles, that rely on artificial intelligence, not human instruction, to decide what to target and whom to kill; as these weapons become smarter and nimbler, critics fear they will become increasingly difficult for humans to control, or to defend against. MORE

Nick Bilton Disruptions column warns that as computers get smarter and artificial intelligence more sophisticated, they will take more human effort to regulate and may spiral out of control; says resulting scenarios could range from small but eventful to cataclysmic. MORE

David Brooks Op-Ed column posits the age of artificial intelligence may finally be at hand, but voices apprehension at its implications; holds that human identity is shaped by what machines and other animals cannot do; fears possibility that in the future, if the architecture of machines is based on big data from vast crowds, everyone will follow the prompts and choose to be like each other. MORE

Jayson Greene Riff essay examines why contemporary science fiction movies seem hostile to technology and artificial intelligence; contends best treatment of humanity's relationship to machines of late has been Spike Jonze movie Her. MORE

News analysis; host of new data-driven technologies for health care, many with enormous potential, raise question of when technology and data have been useful to promote and ensure better health and added true value to health care; data about such benefits is mixed. MORE

IBM details TrueNorth computer chip it has developed in article published in journal Science; chip is inspired by human brain architecture and may one day exceed capabilities of today's supercomputers by mimicking the way brains recognize patterns. MORE

Maureen Dowd Op-Ed column expresses concern about development of artificial intelligence and increasingly capable robots by companies like Google; notes that while artificial intelligence is largely fantasy, robots putting people out of work is a very real possibility. MORE

Annie Lowrey It's the Economy column examines crowdworking platforms like Mturk and CrowdSource that are intended for the menial jobs that still require a flicker of human intelligence and that computers cannot replicate, but have prompted consternation for being a sort of outsourcing service that drives down wages; says even more troubling is the fact that crowdsourcing platforms are hurrying along the automation of more and more of these tasks.. MORE

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Artificial Intelligence News - The New York Times