In steganography, an ordinary message masks the presence of a secret communication. Humans can never do it perfectly, but a new study shows it’s possible for machines. On June 27, 2010, the FBI arrested 10 Russian spies who lived and worked as American professionals near New York City. The case, which unraveled an intricate system […]
Secret Messages Can Hide in AI-Generated Media Read More »
Five years ago, computer scientist Alan Fern and his colleagues at Oregon State University, in Corvallis, set out to answer one of the most pressing questions in artificial intelligence (AI): Could they understand how AI reasons, makes decisions, and chooses its actions? The proving ground for their exploration was five classic arcade games, circa 1980,
Peering inside the black box of AI Read More »
Imagine going to your local hardware store and seeing a new kind of hammer on the shelf. You’ve heard about this hammer: It pounds faster and more accurately than others, and in the last few years it’s rendered many other hammers obsolete, at least for most uses. And there’s more! With a few tweaks —
Will Transformers Take Over Artificial Intelligence? Read More »
In the 1970s, the late mathematician Paul Cohen, the only person to ever win a Fields Medal for work in mathematical logic, reportedly made a sweeping prediction that continues to excite and irritate mathematicians — that “at some unspecified future time, mathematicians would be replaced by computers.” Cohen, legendary for his daring methods in set theory, predicted
How Close Are Computers to Automating Mathematical Reasoning? Read More »
More than 70 years ago, researchers at the forefront of artificial intelligence research introduced neural networks as a revolutionary way to think about how the brain works. In the human brain, networks of billions of connected neurons make sense of sensory data, allowing us to learn from experience. Artificial neural networks can also filter huge
Symbolic mathematics finally yields to neural networks Read More »
In 1998, a few dozen computer scientists and mathematicians gathered at a picturesque seaside resort on the Tuscan island of Elba off the west coast of Italy. They were there to attend a scientific gathering unlike any other. The 17 presentations suggested peculiar offerings. One explored an algorithmic answer to the question, “What if mathematicians
“What if mathematicians were asked to defuse bombs?” Read More »
Armies of zombie computers caused a lot of mayhem in 2018. In January, one cluster of infected, connected machines attacked the three biggest banks in the Netherlands. The attack crippled computer systems and left customers uncertain about their money. In February, a website for computer programmers, called Github, was knocked offline by a network of
Rise of the botnets Read More »
Tech experts have long championed quantum computers as the next generation of machine, promising to solve big problems in lightning-fast time, but the delicate chips exist in only a handful of labs. In the race to build the largest one yet, Google shot ahead in March when it unveiled Bristlecone, a 72-qubit device with low
Quantum computing gets its “Hello World” moment. Read More »
FOR MORE THAN a century, pathologists have identified cancer by looking at slides containing tissue stained with dyes to make the malignant cells more visible. Spotting aberrant cells among healthy ones is similar in spirit to recognizing familiar faces or objects in pictures. “Our brains are very good at recognizing patterns in images,” says physician and
Recognizing AI’s potential Read More »
