I tend to listen more to opinions when people have placed money on their espoused outcome—having “skin in the game”, as Nicholas Taleb calls it in his latest book. However, this robotics developer seems to have gone one better. He literally has skin in the game. Good scientists aren’t supposed to experiment on themselves, but […]
Robot brothels
I’m not sure if robot brothels actually exist, but it seems that we are OK with people visiting them. Two surveys run by the University of Helsinki found that the majority of respondents found it was morally acceptable—as long as you are single. One of the major barriers to the wider use of robots (such […]
Amara’s Law
The current hype around artificial intelligence and machine learning brings to mind Amara’s Law. We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.
Can autonomous vehicles solve CAPTCHAs?
Wait… We’re apparently on the cusp of being chauffeured around in autonomous vehicles, but websites check that I’m not a computer by having me identify road signs in images?! This can’t end well for someone.
OpenAI bots beat top players in multiplayer video game
A team of AI bots created by OpenAI, a non-profit AI research company co-founded by Elon Musk, have beaten former professional Dota 2 players. It’s only been a few months since the bots were losing to amateur players. Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA) where two teams of five players compete […]