10 terrifying uses of artificial intelligence

Many advances in artificial intelligence are innovative and extraordinary, but some are downright creepy. Here are 10 of the eeriest ways people are using, or could use, AI.

1. Robots predicting the future
2. Robot soldiers
3. Schizophrenic robot
4. Economic meltdown
5. Robots that deceive
6. Robot lovers
7. Survival robots
8. Police using AI algorithms to predict crimes
9. AI-based medical treatment
10. Autonomous drones and weapons

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Google AI algorithm masters ancient game of Go

Deep-learning software defeats human professional for first time.

A computer has beaten a human professional for the first time at Go — an ancient board game that has long been viewed as one of the greatest challenges for artificial intelligence (AI).

The best human players of chess, draughts and backgammon have all been outplayed by computers. But a hefty handicap was needed for computers to win at Go. Now Google’s London-based AI company, DeepMind, claims that its machine has mastered the game.

DeepMind’s program AlphaGo beat Fan Hui, the European Go champion, five times out of five in tournament conditions, the firm reveals in research published in Nature on 27 January1. It also defeated its silicon-based rivals, winning 99.8% of games against the current best programs. The program has yet to play the Go equivalent of a world champion, but a match against South Korean professional Lee Sedol, considered by many to be the world’s strongest player, is scheduled for March. “We’re pretty confident,” says DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis.

“This is a really big result, it’s huge,” says Rémi Coulom, a programmer in Lille, France, who designed a commercial Go program called Crazy Stone. He had thought computer mastery of the game was a decade away.

The IBM chess computer Deep Blue, which famously beat grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, was explicitly programmed to win at the game. But AlphaGo was not preprogrammed to play Go: rather, it learned using a general-purpose algorithm that allowed it to interpret the game’s patterns, in a similar way to how a DeepMind program learned to play 49 different arcade games.

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Digital intuition

A computer program that can outplay humans in the abstract game of Go will redefine our relationship with machines.


Napoleon had it and so did Charles Darwin. Tennis champion Roger Federer has it in spades. The dictionary defines intuition as knowledge obtained without conscious reasoning. It is decision-making based on apparently instinctual responses; thinking without thinking.

Intuition is a very human skill, or so we like to think. Or, more accurately, so we liked to think. In what could prove to be a landmark moment for artificial intelligence, scientists announce this week that they have created an intuitive computer. The machine acts according to its programming, but it also chooses what to do on the basis of something — knowledge, experience or a combination of the two — that its programmers cannot predict or fully explain. And, in the limited tests carried out so far, the computer has proved that it can make these intuitive decisions much more effectively than the most skilled humans can. The machines are not just on the rise, they have nudged ahead

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Educate yourself on AI: Seven books to get you started

From drones to self-driving cars to caring robots, artificial intelligence is becoming woven into our lives at a rapidly accelerating pace. With its roots back to Alan Turing in the 1950's, artificial intelligence today has become increasingly sophisticated—where machines were once used to perform simple tasks, they are increasingly being designed with more human-like traits.

If you know little about artificial intelligence and need to get up to speed, here are seven books that can help you get some important evolving field.

1. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2005) by Raymond Kurzweil

2. Designing Sociable Robots (2002) by Cynthia Breazeal

3. Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy (2015) by David A. Mindell

4. The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind (2006) by Marvin Minsky

5. Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology (1992) by Steven Levy

6. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014) by Nick Bostrom

7. Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era (2013) by James Barrat

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The 10 most interesting portrayals of AI in movies

With the UK release of Ex Machine in cinemas this weekend TechRepublic looks back at 10 of the most memorable portrayals of artificial intelligence in movies.

The film Ex Machina tells the story of a young programmer invited to the home of a reclusive billionaire to test whether an AI can pass itself off as human.

Needless to say this Turing Test doesn't go to plan, but with the film due out this weekend in the UK here is a round-up of ten of the most noteworthy portrayals of AI on film.

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Educate yourself on AI: Seven books to get you started

Want to get your head around artificial intelligence? These seven non-technical books on AI offer context and insights into a complex subject.

From drones to self-driving cars to caring robots, artificial intelligence is becoming woven into our lives at a rapidly accelerating pace. With its roots back to Alan Turing in the 1950's, artificial intelligence today has become increasingly sophisticated—where machines were once used to perform simple tasks, they are increasingly being designed with more human-like traits.

If you know little about artificial intelligence and need to get up to speed, here are seven books that can help you get some important context for this quickly evolving field.

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Gardner’s Eight Intelligences

Gardner’s Eight Intelligences

1. Linguistic intelligence is the ability to read, write, and communicate effectively in a variety of ways.

2. Logical–mathematical intelligence involves the ability to reason, calculate, think
in a logical manner, and process information.

3. Spatial intelligence provides the ability to think in pictures and to visualize a
conclusion or result.

4. Bodily kinesthetic intelligence gives the ability to solve problems or manipulate
items using one’s own body or parts of the body.

5. Musical–rhythmic intelligence allows someone to create or compose music
and to understand, interpret, and appreciate it.

6. Interpersonal intelligence is crucial for understanding others, their emotions,
traits, and abilities and how best to interact with people.

7. Intrapersonal intelligence provides the ability to form accurate perceptions
about oneself and use the knowledge to effectively function throughout life.

8. Naturalist intelligence gives the ability to observe, understand, and classify
patterns in nature.

Source: The creative training idea book : inspired tips and techniques for
engaging and effective learning by Robert W. Lucas.

AI’s 10 to watch

It has been a tradition for IEEE Intelligent Systems to acknowledge 10 accomplished AI researchers in their early careers every two years as “AI’s 10 to Watch.” These researchers have all completed their doctoral work in the past couple of years. This article presents the glimpse of the future of AI and the practicing AI researchers who promise to be the leaders of the field.