Posted in business, robotics/AI
Ocado, a British online-grocery company, is using air-traffic-control systems and AI technology to co-ordinate 700 factory robots. Its use of technology has made it a challenger to Amazon’s grocery-delivery business https://econ.st/2oTjzAG
The U.S. military is preparing for the age of AI and algorithmic warfare, and it’s getting help from tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.
Albert Einstein’s famous expression “spooky action at a distance” refers to quantum entanglement, a phenomenon seen on the most micro of scales. But machine learning seems to grow more mysterious and powerful every day, and scientists don’t always understand how it works. The spookiest action yet is a new study of heart patients where a machine-learning algorithm decided who was most likely to die within a year based on echocardiogram (ECG) results, reported by New Scientist. The algorithm performed better than the traditional measures used by cardiologists. The study was done by researchers in Pennsylvania’s Geisinger regional healthcare group, a low-cost and not-for-profit provider.
Disruption of the job market and the economy from automation and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the primary ideas animating Andrew Yang’s surprising campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Alone among the candidates, Yang is directly engaging with one of the central forces that will shape our futures.
A recent report from the consulting firm Deloitte found that, among more than a thousand surveyed American executives, 63 percent agreed with the statement that “to cut costs, my company wants to automate as many jobs as possible using AI,” and 36 percent already believe that job losses from AI-enabled automation should be viewed as an ethical issue. In other words, while media pundits dismiss worries about automation, executives at America’s largest companies are actively planning for it.
It may seem odd to worry about AI and automation at a time when the headline unemployment rate is below 4 percent. But it is important to remember that this metric only captures people who are actively seeking work. Consider that, in 1965, only 3 percent of American men between the ages of 25 and 54 — old enough to have completed education but too young to retire — were neither working nor actively looking for employment. Today, that number is about 11 percent.
In other words, the percentage of working-age men completely disenfranchised from employment markets has nearly tripled. The economist and former Treasury secretary Laurence Summers has estimated that, by 2050, that number could more than double again to a quarter or even a third.
Let’s develop a public research consortium to take on useful projects that have no commercial prospects.
OpenAI’s text generator, machine learning-powered—so powerful that it was thought too dangerous to release to the public, has, guess what, been released.
OpenAI published a blog post announcing its decision to release the algorithm in full as it has “seen no strong evidence of misuse so far.”
Well, that was a turnaround.
There’s something unsettling about a private firm making powerful autonomous machines – but what’s scarier is who’s building them, and why.
The philosophy that we should merge with machines to expand our intelligence and extend life is gaining traction. Design, scientific and technological frontiers are being pushed to redefine nature through AI, AR, biotech, genetics, and VR.
Each one weighs about 20 pounds (or nine kilograms), is powered by 12 electrical motors, and can reach speeds of around six miles per hour (or 2.5 meters per second). As you can see in the video, they’re all being steered manually using what look like RC controllers.
Speaking to IEEE Spectrum earlier this year, Sangbae Kim, director of MIT’s biomimetics lab, said the bots are being used to research various problems that require a bit of ruggedness and flexibility. Their modular design lets scientists swap in new parts if they break, and their tough build can survive crashes and bangs.
“Mini Cheetah is just about the perfect size. Twenty pounds (9 kilograms) is not too small but not so big that it’s dangerous or fragile,” said Sangbae. “We designed the machine to be able to absorb the impacts, jumping and landing and so on.”
