Awesome, not awesome.

#Awesome

“Unhindered, AI can refine new knowledge without human intervention. Given the subtle differences between AI and human intelligence, it’s reasonable to expect that an autonomous AI system will generate its own criteria for judging what passes as new [scientific] knowledge. New knowledge which humans no longer experience as something they themselves have produced would shake the foundations of human culture.” — Janne I Hukkinen, Professor. Learn More on Wired >

#Not Awesome

“Everything, everywhere, will soon be continuously recorded and uploaded to the internet. This will start with dense, urban areas, but over time every single square meter of every part of the globe will be recorded. Advances in computer vision & AI mean this data will be usable at scale, which will revolutionise advertising, law enforcement, and bring us back to a pre-privacy world.” — Ernest Oppetit, Product Manager. Learn More on Hacker Noon >

“What else are you working on besides Machine Learnings?” Usejournal.com

What we’re reading.

1/ AI is seen as the “key factor” in the future of warfare, and China’s advances in the field keep catching the Pentagon off guard. Learn More on The New York Times >

2/ We need the ability to investigate algorithms and their training data, or we’ll risk bringing back policies that financially and socially crippled black families for 30+ years. Learn More on Motherboard >

3/ An investor predicts the biggest successes in the “early days” of deep learning will come from companies building niche marketplaces, platforms to help humans label data, and infrastructure services. Learn More on Harvard Business Review >

4/ A self-aware AI could be the biggest threat to Christian theology since Charles Darwin’s observations on natural selection. Learn More on The Atlantic >

5/ AI software is coaching customer service reps, in real-time, on how to best navigate phone conversations. Learn More on MIT Technology Review >

6/ Physicists and AI researchers want to combine machine learning with quantum computers to give birth to a technological revolution. Learn More on Quartz >

7/ MIT researchers are using building machine learning algorithms into wearables to help us introverts avoid awkward conversations. Learn More on Fast Company >

Links from the community.

“Text Classification Using Neural Networks” submitted by gk_(@gk_). Learn More on Machine Learnings >

“Why Hollywood as We Know It Is Already Over” submitted by Carl DeBrule. Learn More on Vanity Fair >

“A Neural Network Playground” submitted by Samiur Rahman (@samiur1204). Learn More on TensorFlow >

“What Everyone is Not Telling You about Artificial Intelligence” submitted by Mate Labs (@matelabs_ai). Learn More on Medium >

Where are we going?

One of the main narratives coming from Silicon Valley this week was the controversy surrounding Elon Musk’s decision to stay on Trump’s Presidential Advisory Forum. Tesla customers began cancelling their pre-orders for the company’s new sedan in response to what they perceive as Musk’s tacit approval of the the Muslim travel ban. Similar backlash was enough to force Uber’s CEO to leave the Presidential council, but Musk confirmed he’ll hold his position as a “moderate” advisor to the president.

This relationship between Musk and Trump has top experts in the field of AI “deeply concerned” about artificial intelligence being used for malicious purposes. In Musk’s downtime, when he’s not building rockets to take humanity to Mars or self-driving cars, he’s working on one of the world’s most advanced non-profit AI research companies.

In the #2 link above, we learned how devastating the effects of biased algorithms can be. What sort of social, economic, and political injustices could be unleashed if advanced AI is governed and regulated by President Trump?

Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are having a huge impact on our lives. We help people make sense of how AI & ML will impact their lives by curating and creating AI content that is accessible and just plain interesting.