AI with AI

Andy and Dave didn’t have time to do a short podcast this week, so they did a long one instead. In breaking news, they discuss the establishment of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), yet another-Tesla autopilot crash, Geurts defending the decision to dissolve the Navy’s Unmanned Systems Office, and Germany published a paper that describes its stance on autonomy in weapon systems. Then, Andy and Dave discuss DeepMind’s approach to using YouTube videos to train an AI to learn “hard exploration games” (with sparse rewards). In another “centaur” example, facial recognition experts form best when combined with an AI. University of Manchester researchers announce a new footstep-recognition AI system, but Dave pulls a Linus and has a fit of “footstep awareness.” In other recent reports, Andy and Dave discuss another example of biomimicry, where researchers at ETH Zurich have modeled the schooling behavior of fish. And in brain-computer interface research, a noninvasive BCI system co-trained with tetraplegics to control avatars in a racing game. Finally, they round out the discussion with a mention of ZAC Inc and its purported general AI, a book on How People and Machines are Smarter Together, and a video on deep reinforcement learning.