An AI can read words in brain signals

Researchers at UCSF have trained an algorithm to parse meaning from neural activity.

Image source: ESB Professional/Shutterstock/Big Think
  • Participants' neural activity is collected as they speak 50 sentences.
  • A machine-learning algorithm develops a prediction of what the collected data means.
  • The system's accuracy varies, but the results are promising.
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    A new AI passes the smell test almost 100% of the time

    Our remarkable olfactory senses are modeled in a new research chip.

    Image source: Peshkova/Ilona Rainbow/Shutterstock/Big Think
    • Two researchers have created an algorithm that can accurately identify 10 different smells.
    • The AI algorithm runs on an Intel chip that has 130,000 silicon "neurons."
    • The natural mammalian olfactory bulb grows new neurons even in adults.
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    Ask Sophia the Robot: What can AI teach humans?

    Through experiencing time in a nonlinear way, can artificial intelligence provide us more perspective?

    • Is Sophia the Robot, of Hanson Robotics, conscious? Not quite, she says. Instead, she reflects the consciousness of humans in the same way the moon reflects the light of the sun.
    • While we don't know if humans possess free will, she advises us to act as if we do. We can benefit from this.
    • So, what can humans learn from robots? Artificial intelligence can view the world in a way that's more objective, being present while still able to look toward the future and the past.
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    This controversial website uses AI to create fake nudes of women

    A new web startup is selling algorithmically produced nudes of non-existent women. There's still some ethical concerns.

    Source: These Nudes Do Not Exist
    • These Nudes Do Not Exist hopes to revolutionize online porn by selling AI-generated nude images of women for a dollar per photo.
    • The site uses Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) algorithmic technology to generate the nude AI content using a database containing lots of nude images of real women.
    • It's extremely common for pornographic imagery of women found online to have been stolen from sex workers, so it's very difficult for machine learning engineers to find ethically sourced datasets of nude images.


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    Busting the myth of ‘neutral’ AI

    We encode our biases into everything we create: books, poems, and AI. What does that means for an increasingly automated future?

    • AI isn't "just technology," says Professor Ramesh Srinivasan. We have to bust the myth that AI is neutral and has no biases. We encode our biases into artificial intelligence. That fact will become more apparent as 5G 'smart cities' become a reality.
    • Business leaders must develop awareness and ask themselves: What are the data sets my technologies are learning from and what are the values that are influencing the development of these technologies?
    • The American public, across every demographic and both sides of the aisle, supports doing something about big technology issues that are creating an unequal future, says Srinivasan. We are at an inflection point, and good AI is possible if tech leaders act on these issues.
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