A Russian computer program is said to have become the first to pass the “Turing Test” for artificial intelligence. Whether that’s the case is a question of interpretation. The Turing test is named after computer pioneer Alan Turing, whose 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” examined whether computers can think. He said such a question […]
The University of Michigan is building a 32-acre model city for testing self-driving cars. The Mobile Transformation Facility will include both a city centre with the traditional grid model and a four-lane highway. Realistic features will include “merge lanes, stoplights, intersections, roundabouts, road signs, a railroad crossing, building facades, construction barrels and eventually a mechanical […]
If you want to fool the Secret Service, it appears sarcasm might be the way to go. The agency is looking for software that can figure out when social media users don’t mean exactly what they say. In a procurement document, spotted by the BBC, the agency is asking for a commercial firm to provide […]
Pixar is giving away rendering software used to make movies such as Toy Story. It will be free to use for non-commercial projects. The RenderMan software is not only used for Pixar’s own movies but has been licensed to other studios for movies such as the Harry Potter series. The software is designed for ray […]
Confused about Net Neutrality? Watch this. Know someone confused by Net Neutrality? Watch this. (Contains some language.) [via HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver]
Microsoft has demonstrated Skype carrying out voice translation almost instantaneously. It plans to roll out the feature to the public starting later this year. Voice translation has been around for several years, with varying degrees of success. In 2010, Google unveiled a voice feature in Google Translate that — in theory at least — allowed […]
Last week, I brought you video of a T-Rex throwing the first pitch a Major League Baseball game. This week, I bring you a robot. Students in the S.T.E.M. program at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona, created this robot that threw out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game on May 14. [via Arizona Sports]
NASA has unveiled the public’s choice for the next prototype design for a suit to be used if and when man lands on Mars. Nearly 400,000 website visitors chose among a range of designs for the Z-2 spacesuit, with 63 percent opting for the “Technology” option. It’s eerily reminiscent of the design of the suit […]
If physicist Stephen Hawking is taking pause with the future of AI technology, maybe we should take pause, too. Or at least, you know, think about all the paths it could potentially take first. Hawking, along with physicists Max Tegmark and Frank Wilczek and computer scientist Stuart Allen, wrote in The Guardian that AI could absolutely change […]
Google has agreed to stop scanning emails on around 30 million accounts used by students and teachers. It follows Microsoft offering a special version of Bing for schools that cuts out ads and other commercial results. The new policy will affect any emails on accounts using Google Apps for Education. That’s a free service but, […]