Technology
In Tech We Trust?
Fairness, trust and transparency are qualities we usually associate with organisations or individuals. Today, these attributes might also apply to algorithms. As machine learning systems become more complex and pervasive, Cambridge researchers believe it’s time for new thinking about new technology. Dr Jat Singh is familiar with breaking new ground and working across disciplines. Even …
The Challenge of Abundance: Boredom, Meaning, and the Struggle of Mental Freedom
As technology continues to progress, the possibility of an abundant future seems more likely. Artificial intelligence is expected to drive down the cost of labor, infrastructure, and transport. Alternative energy systems are reducing the cost of a wide variety of goods. Poverty rates are falling around the world as more people are able to make …
Huawei Launches Ascend 910, The World’s Most Powerful AI Processor, And MindSpore, An All-Scenario AI Computing Framework
Huawei officially launched the world’s most powerful AI processor – the Ascend 910 – as well as an all-scenario AI computing framework, MindSpore. “We have been making steady progress since we announced our AI strategy in October last year,” said Eric Xu, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman. “Everything is moving forward according to plan, from R&D to …
Living With Artificial Intelligence: How Do We Get It Right?
Powerful AI needs to be reliably aligned with human values. Does this mean that AI will eventually have to police those values? This has been the decade of AI, with one astonishing feat after another. A chess-playing AI that can defeat not only all human chess players, but also all previous human-programmed chess machines, after …
Neven’s Law: Why It Might Be Too Soon For A Moore’s Law For Quantum Computers
A new disruptive technology is on the horizon and it promises to take computing power to unprecedented and unimaginable heights. And to predict the speed of progress of this new “quantum computing” technology, the director of Google’s Quantum AI Labs, Hartmut Neven, has proposed a new rule similar to the Moore’s Law that has measured …
Now It’s Time To Prepare For The Machinocene
Human-level intelligence is familiar in biological hardware – you’re using it now. Science and technology seem to be converging, from several directions, on the possibility of similar intelligence in non-biological systems. It is difficult to predict when this might happen, but most artificial intelligence (AI) specialists estimate that it is more likely than not within …
It’s Dangerous To Think Virtual Reality Is An Empathy Machine
What is it like to be a cow? Researchers such as Jeremy Bailenson, the director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab in California, believe they can help you find out. A few years ago, Bailenson and his colleagues at Stanford University created a simulation of a slaughterhouse. In a series of experiments, Bailenson invited people …
Why Upgrading Your Brain Could Make You Less Human
Within the lifetimes of most children alive today, bioenhancement is likely to become a basic feature of human society. Personalised pharmaceuticals will enable us to modify our bodies and minds in powerful and precise ways, with far fewer side-effects than modern drugs. New brain-machine interfaces will improve our memory and cognition, extend our senses, and …
Remote Control Of The Brain Is Coming: How Will We Use It?
Controlling the minds of others from a distance has long been a favourite science fiction theme – but recent advances in genetics and neuroscience suggest that we might soon have that power for real. Just over a decade ago, the bioengineer Karl Deisseroth and his colleagues at Stanford University published their paper on the optical control …
Brain-Machine Interfaces Are Getting Better And Better – And Neuralink’s New Brain Implant Pushes The Pace
Elon Musk grabbed a lot of attention with his July 16 announcement that his company Neuralink plans to implant electrodes into the brains of people with paralysis by next year. Their first goal is to create assistive technology to help people who can’t move or are unable to communicate. If you haven’t been paying attention, …