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The Uselessness of Useful Knowledge

October 20, 2021

Today’s powerful but little-understood artificial intelligence breakthroughs echo past examples of unexpected scientific progress.

Neuron Bursts Can Mimic Famous AI Learning Strategy

October 18, 2021

A new model of learning centers on bursts of neural activity that act as teaching signals — approximating backpropagation, the algorithm behind learning in AI.

A New Link to an Old Model Could Crack the Mystery of Deep Learning

October 11, 2021

To help them explain the shocking success of deep neural networks, researchers are turning to older but better-understood models of machine learning.

Major Quantum Computing Strategy Suffers Serious Setbacks

September 29, 2021

So-called topological quantum computing would avoid many of the problems that stand in the way of full-scale quantum computers. But high-profile missteps have led some experts to question whether the field is fooling itself.

How Computationally Complex Is a Single Neuron?

September 2, 2021

Computational neuroscientists taught an artificial neural network to imitate a biological neuron. The result offers a new way to think about the complexity of single brain cells.

How Big Data Carried Graph Theory Into New Dimensions

August 19, 2021

Researchers are turning to the mathematics of higher-order interactions to better model the complex connections within their data.

Computer Scientists Discover Limits of Major Research Algorithm

August 17, 2021

The most widely used technique for finding the largest or smallest values of a math function turns out to be a fundamentally difficult computational problem.

Proof Assistant Makes Jump to Big-League Math

July 28, 2021

Mathematicians using the computer program Lean have verified the accuracy of a difficult theorem at the cutting edge of research mathematics.

Q&A

The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies

July 14, 2021

Melanie Mitchell has worked on digital minds for decades. She says they’ll never truly be like ours until they can make analogies.

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