Good AI

Good AI
by Bernard Murphy on 09-27-2016 at 7:00 am

A hot debate recently, promoted notably by Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, has explored whether we should fear AI. A key question centers around the ethics of AI – how we can instill ethical values in intelligent systems we will build and how, I hope, we can ensure we use those systems ethically. This is not an academic question – autonomous… Read More


Limits to Deep Reasoning in Vision

Limits to Deep Reasoning in Vision
by Bernard Murphy on 08-01-2016 at 7:00 am

If you are a regular reader, you’ll know I like to explore the boundaries of technology. Readers I respect sometimes interpret this as a laughable attempt to oppose the inevitable march of progress, but that is not my purpose. In understanding the limits of a particular technology, it is possible to envision what properties a successor… Read More


Facebook and Deep Reasoning with Memory

Facebook and Deep Reasoning with Memory
by Bernard Murphy on 06-05-2016 at 4:00 pm

Neural nets as described in many recent articles are very capable at recognizing objects and written and spoken text. But like anything we can build, or even imagine, they have limitations. One problem is that after training, the neural nets we usually encounter are essentially stateless. They can recognize static patterns but… Read More


Life, the Universe and Everything

Life, the Universe and Everything
by Bernard Murphy on 02-28-2016 at 12:00 pm

In Douglas Adams’ iconic series A hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxya super-intelligent species created a super-powerful computer called Deep Thought to answer the ultimate question – what is the meaning of life (and the universe and everything)? Life imitates art so it should come as no surprise that a team in London founded a venture… Read More