Jun 19, 2019
Typical deep reinforcement learning requires millions of training iterations as the network stumbles around in search of the right solution. New research suggests that AI can learn faster by considering its mistakes.
Jun 19, 2019
U.S. representatives mulled over legal precedents for — and impediments to — regulating the realistic computer-generated videos known as deepfakes.
Jun 19, 2019
Drone maker DJI released a toy robot tank that shoots splattering pellets, skitters on omnidirectional wheels, and learns to navigate the playroom battlefield.
The Batch Newsletter
I spoke last week at re:MARS, Amazon's conference focusing on machine learning, automation, robotics, and space. I heard great talks from Jeff Bezos, Kate Darling, Ken Goldberg, Marc Raibert, and others.
Jun 12, 2019
The most widely used image-recognition systems are better at identifying items from wealthy households than from poor ones.
Jun 12, 2019
Generative adversarial networks can synthesize images to help train computer vision systems. But GANs are compute-hungry and don’t always produce realistic output. Now there’s a more efficient and true-to-life alternative.
Jun 12, 2019
Here’s a conundrum: Deep learning could help address a variety of intractable problems, climate change among them. Yet neural networks can consume gargantuan quantities of energy, potentially dumping large amounts of heat-trapping gas into the atmosphere.
Jun 12, 2019
Another week, another way to make deepfakes. A team at Samsung recently proposed a model that generates talking-head videos by imposing facial landmarks over still images. Now a different team offers one that makes an onscreen speaker say anything you can type.
Jun 05, 2019
In self-driving cars, the laser-radar hybrid known as lidar senses surrounding objects to determine the path of a vehicle. In drones, it’s being used to see through forests to evaluate the impact of climate change on the ground.
Jun 05, 2019
Deep learning helped geneticists find mutations associated with autism in vast regions of the human genome commonly known as junk DNA.
Jun 05, 2019
OpenAI hasn't released the full version of its GPT-2 language model, fearing the system would create a dark tide of fake news masquerading as real reporting. Now researchers offer a way to detect such computer-generated fancies.
Jun 05, 2019
Humanoid robots are notoriously ungainly, but nimble machines of roughly human size and shape could prove critical in disaster areas, where danger is high but architecture, controls, and tools are designed for homo sapiens. A new control system could help them move more nimbly.