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The reach of artificial intelligence technologies across all parts of society is steadily growing, but so is the awareness of how they can negatively impact human rights. As 2019 draws to a close, the trajectory of technological progress defined by big technology companies is meeting resistance.
A new open challenge tests whether algorithmic models can explain human brain activity in cognitive tasks and encourages interaction between researchers studying natural and artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly seen as key technologies for building more decentralized and resilient energy grids. However, researchers must consider the ethical and social implications of these developments.
Robots are making a transition into human environments, where they can directly interact with us, in shops, hospitals, schools and more. Transparency about robots’ capabilities and level of autonomy should be integrated into the design from the start.
The first Smart Cities Robotics Challenge, organized by the European Robotics League, took place from 18–21 September at the Centre:MK shopping centre in Milton Keynes. The competition tested the ability of robots to interact with humans in everyday tasks as well as with the digital infrastructure of a smart city.
Artificial intelligence systems copy and amplify existing societal biases, a problem that by now is widely acknowledged and studied. But is current research of gender bias in natural language processing actually moving towards a resolution, asks Marta R. Costa-jussà.
The organizers of Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, a relatively new AI-themed meeting held recently in Berlin, are dedicated to encouraging informal interactions and conversations to tackle the challenge of bridging scientific cultures.
To safely operate in the real world, robots need to evaluate how confident they are about what they see. A new competition challenges computer vision algorithms to not just detect and localize objects, but also report how certain they are.
In order for the neuromorphic research field to advance into the mainstream of computing, it needs to start quantifying gains, standardize on benchmarks and focus on feasible application challenges.
Brain–machine interfaces were envisioned already in the 1940s by Norbert Wiener, the father of cybernetics. The opportunities for enhancing human capabilities and restoring functions are now quickly expanding with a combination of advances in machine learning, smart materials and robotics.
As machine learning methods are adopted across the scientific community, strong code sharing and reviewing practices are required. Our policy mandates that code essential to the main results is made available to reviewers, and to readers on publication. Our partnership with Code Ocean helps authors and reviewers navigate this process.
As nations come together in Tokyo next summer to celebrate the spirit of human potential in the 2020 Olympic Games, they will have a chance to take part in another international competition hosted by Japan soon after, this time with challenges designed for robot contenders.
To create less harmful technologies and ignite positive social change, AI engineers need to enlist ideas and expertise from a broad range of social science disciplines, including those embracing qualitative methods, say Mona Sloane and Emanuel Moss.
Deepfakes are a new dimension of the fake news problem. The criminal misuse of this technology poses far-reaching challenges and can threaten national security. Technological and governance solutions are needed to address this.
Could this be the year that AI is going to surpass human performance in playing the popular video game Angry Birds? The organizers of the annual AIBIRDS competition discuss the challenges involved.
Civil liberty groups are raising the alarm over the ubiquitous use of automated facial recognition. As a society, we need to decide on the acceptable use of this technology and how to build in safeguards to protect human rights.
Artists have always been at the forefront of experimenting with digital tools. The AI: More than Human exhibition at the Barbican Centre, London (until August 26th), features some intriguing AI-inspired installations. We spoke to four artists about their work and influences.
