IBM, U. of Michigan Creating Chatty Computer

How would you like to have a conversation with your computer to plan your vacation or to do your taxes, or literally hold a discussion with your car about the best way to get home through traffic? Well, if a new project from IBM and the University of Michigan goes as planned, that may not be so far off.

Sure, it is possible to "talk" to PCs, cars, smartphones and other devices today, but the interaction is limited to rote question and answering. What the University of Michigan and IBM have in mind is the ability to hold real conversations with these systems "on human terms," the university said.

The University of Michigan and IBM have launched a $4.5 million collaboration to develop a new class of conversational technologies that will enable people to interact more naturally and effectively with computers. The multiyear partnership is expected to usher in the next frontier of artificial intelligence (AI)-based dialog management that will transform human-machine communication.

Indeed, in an effort known as Project Sapphire, IBM and the University of Michigan Artificial Intelligence Lab will develop a cognitive system that functions as an academic advisor for undergraduate computer science and engineering majors at the university. The system will enable researchers to explore how smart machines interact with people in goal-driven dialogues.

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Researchers at the MIT Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces Group are prototyping new, novel and more natural ways for people to interact with computers and access and store information. Their innovations have been designed to improve and enrich our personal and professional lives, making it easier to create, communicate, collaborate and even cook. Here are 10 inventions that enhance human-computer interactions, improve the in-store shopping experience, and even help us kick bad habits.

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Brain-computer interfaces could someday provide a lifeline to "locked-in" patients, who are unable to talk or move but are aware and awake. Many of these patients can communicate by blinking their eyes, but turning blinks into words is time-consuming and exhausting. Scientists in Utah have now demonstrated a way to determine which of 10 distinct words a person is thinking by recording the electrical activity from the surface of the brain. Read the full story