AI with AI

In a review of the latest news, Andy and Dave discuss: the White House’s “plan” for AI, the departure of employees from Google due to Project Maven, another Tesla crash, the first AI degree for undergraduates at CMU, and Boston Dynamics’ jumping and climbing robots. Next, two AI research topics have implications for neuroscience. First, Andy and Dave discuss AI research at DeepMind, which showed that an AI trained to navigate between two points developed “grid cells,” very similar to those found in the mammalian brain. And second, another finding from DeepMind on “meta-learning” suggests that dopamine in the human brain may have a more integral role in meta-learning than previously thought. In another example of “AI-chemy,” Andy and Dave discuss the looming problem of (lack of) explainability in health care (with implications for many other areas, such as DoD), and they also discuss some recent research on adding an option for an AI to defer a decision with “I Don’t Know” (IDK). After a quick romp through the halls of AI-generated DOOM, the two discuss a recent proof that reveals the fundamental limits of scientific knowledge (so much for super-AIs). And finally, they close with a few media recommendations, including “The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect.”