Archive for the ‘Alphago’ Category

The Powerful New AI Hardware of the Future – CDOTrends

As an observer of artificial intelligence over the last few years at DSAITrends, it is fascinating to observe the dichotomy between the sheer amount of research and development in AI, and its glacial real-world impact.

No doubt, we do have plenty of jaw-dropping developments from AI-synthesized faces that are indistinguishable from real faces, AI models that can explain jokes, and the ability to create original, realistic images and art from text descriptions.

But this has not translated into business benefits for more than a handful of top tech firms. For the most part, businesses are still wrestling with their board about whether to implement AI or struggling to operationalize AI.

In the meantime, ethical quandaries are as yet unresolved, bias is rampant, and at least one regulator has warned banks about the use of AI.

One popular business quote comes to mind: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.

So yes, while immediate AI gains seem lacking, the impact of AI in the long term might yet exceed our wildest expectations. And new, powerful AI hardware could well accelerate AI developments.

More powerful AI hardware

But why the fascination with more powerful hardware? In the groundbreaking Scaling laws for neural language models paper published in 2020, researchers from OpenAI concluded that larger AI models will continue to perform better and be much more sample efficient than previously appreciated.

While the researchers cautioned that more work is needed to test if the scaling holds, the current hypothesis is that more powerful AI hardware could train much larger models that will yield capabilities far beyond todays AI model.

Leading the charge on the hardware front would be data center-class GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD, as well as specialized AI processors from technology giants such as Google. For example:

Stepping outside the box

There are research fields that could impact the development of AI, too. For example, the Loihi 2 is a second-generation experimental neuromorphic chip by Intel. Announced last year, a neuromorphic processor mimics the human brain using programmable components to simulate neurons.

According to its technical brief (pdf), the Loihi 2 has 128 cores and has potentially more than a million digital neurons due to its asynchronous design. The human brain does have roughly 90 billion interconnected neurons, so there is still some way to go yet.

Chips like the Loihi 2 has another advantage though. As noted by a report on The Register, high-end AI systems such as DeepMinds AlphaGo require thousands of processing units running in parallel, with each consuming around 200 watts. Thats a lot of power and we havent even factored in the ancillary systems or cooling equipment yet.

On its part, neuromorphic hardware promises between four and 16 times better energy efficiency than other AI models running on conventional hardware.

Warp speed ahead with quantum computing

While the Loihi 2 is made of traditional transistors there are 2.3 billion of them in the Loihi 2 another race is underway to make a completely different type of computer known as quantum computers.

According to a report on AIMultiple, quantum computing can be used for the rapid training of machine learning models and to create optimized algorithms. Of course, it must be pointed out that quantum computers are far more complex to build due to the special materials and operating environments required to access the requisite quantum states.

Indeed, experts estimate that it could take another two decades to produce a general quantum computer, though working quantum computers of up to 127-qubit exists.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore is stepping up its investments in quantum computing with new initiatives to boost talent development and provide access to the technology. This includes a foundry to develop the components and materials needed to build quantum computers.

Whatever the future brings for AI in the decades ahead, it will not be for lack of computing prowess.

Paul Mah is the editor of DSAITrends. A former system administrator, programmer, and IT lecturer, he enjoys writing both code and prose. You can reach him at [emailprotected].

Image credit: iStockphoto/jiefeng jiang

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The Powerful New AI Hardware of the Future - CDOTrends

The 50 Best Documentaries of All Time 24/7 Wall St. – 24/7 Wall St.

During the widespread COVID lockdowns of 2020, scores of Americans decided to learn something new in their idle time, taking up sourdough baking, woodworking, or bird watching. Many also turned to documentaries to stimulate their minds. Documentaries were, in fact, the fastest growing genre on streaming platforms in 2020.

The age of streaming has made non-fiction movies more popular and lucrative than ever before. Documentaries have become more accessible to audiences, and streaming platforms and production houses are putting more and more money into such films as true crime docuseries, celebrity biographies, and cult exposs. (Similar subjects are also fictionalized, of course not always successfully. These are the 50 worst movies based on true events.)

To identify the 50 best documentaries of all time, 24/7 Tempo reviewed the 22,407 movies in our database for which data was available from both IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, and developed an index using average IMDb ratings and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes. Ties were broken based on the number of IMDb votes. (Directorial credits come from IMDb.)

Click here to see the 50 best documentaries of all time

Some are heart-wrenching narratives straight from the mouths of people who survived some of the worst atrocities of our times, including the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many are concerts and band biographies. Others are inspiring accounts of great athletic feats and the perseverance of those who accomplished them. (Here are the 30 most inspirational movies of the last 100 years.)

Many of the best documentaries of all time are calls to arms, delving into current crises with empathy and urgency and covering topics such as racism, income inequality, and environmental devastation. At their best, documentaries have the power to shape how we view the world and to motivate change.

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The 50 Best Documentaries of All Time 24/7 Wall St. - 24/7 Wall St.

How Could AI be used in the Online Casino Industry – Rebellion Research

How Could AI be used in the Online Casino Industry

Online casinos have seen a rapid boom over the last couple of years. There are plenty of reasons why, starting with the internet.

The average player can start a game within minutes, no matter where they are.

They dont have to visit a casino hall, nor do they have to deal with spotty internet.

The online casino experience has also drastically improved. Operators did this by adding the latest features and technologies as soon as possible.

In the beginning, games began as software that you could download onto your computers. Now, they are online websites connected to a server, offering a more streamlined and smoother experience.

From slots to table games and game shows, players have a wider variety to choose from too. And all these online casino games are very easy to find across a wide range of casino operators listed on Gambling.com.

Players can also choose from different ways to play. Will it be against bots or against real players?

As casinos continue to innovate, AI has been an aspect many have been slowly exploring. It is certainly an exciting prospect, and it brings plenty of ways to improve the current gaming experience.

Casino operators stand to benefit from it but users too will see plenty of benefits. This applies to both traditional gamers and modern gamers.

Keep reading on how AI will help.

With automated AI for customer service, casino operators and users both enjoy a vastly improved service.

For instance, casino operators will see lower overhead costs.

Meanwhile, users enjoy instant, around the clock service. AI can also analyze billing history and other preferences to deliver more targeted responses.

AI in customer support has come far and today offers an increasingly human-like response. Of course, humans will still be available in the background to handle more complex issues.

Gambling addiction is a serious issue and its dangers have been well documented in the last few decades.

Signs of addiction include borrowing money to gamble and not knowing when to draw the line. Chasing losses and lying are a few other red flags.

But AI has the ability to create more responsible gaming experiences.

How you ask?

Well, it can analyze the activities of a player to identify irresponsible patterns. With this input, casinos can create a safety net that keeps their players safe and protected.

The deeper analytical skills of AI can help detect cheaters very early on. This can ensure a level gaming field and safer gambling for everyone involved.

AI can flag suspicious behaviour and interpret any patterns. This will help operators catch cheaters faster before they can harm other players.

This is especially useful when it comes to online casinos. At a casino hall, there are cameras and bouncers to monitor games whereas online casinos dont have as many eyes.

These are but a few of the benefits everyone stands to gain with AI. Its implementation is still in the early stages but there are positive signs.

For example, AI use in video games has been rapidly increasing and casinos are known to heavily borrow from games. So we can expect that to happen with AI too.

Now AI usage has been around in video games for a while but not the self-learning kind of AI. This is the AI that is found in language processing, computer vision and self-driving cars.

Interestingly, self-learning AI was developed by software that improved upon itself through playing video games. Some examples include OpenAIs Dota 2 bot and DeepMinds AlphaGo program.

It was only in the last decade or so that game developers got access to these advanced tools. Through this, they were able to create more intelligent and immersive games that use sophisticated AI.

Games that are able to read the player and respond to their moves. Game NPCs that were able to change and evolve through the players playthrough.

With this, in the future, we can expect improvements like customized experiences in casino games. Through AI, casino operators can shape and adapt in-game experiences depending on how the player responds.

This goes beyond just the in-game experience. AI can detect the preferred game mode and customize the homepage with curated selections that a player will like.

It can track trends, figure out patterns and predict future actions with accuracy. Casino operators can use this data to fine-tune their games and deliver better experiences.

Moreover, AI can help casinos analyze the data collected to deliver more personalized ads. Special offers and experiences can be promoted to specific players.

These are processes that would take way too long with humans. But with AI, these could be analyzed within minutes.

What began with 16-bit graphics is now a real-time, realistic gaming experience. People can play with a human dealer and human players with hardly any hassle.

Aside from a realistic experience, the integration of AI will vastly help in online casino development. Whether it is tweaking the UI or the website, casino operators can use AI to discover the optimal settings.

And as a player, responsible gaming and a fair experience will be possible in all games. From online roulette to online blackjack, AI promises to revolutionize how you game.

How Could AI be used in the Online Casino Industry

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How Could AI be used in the Online Casino Industry - Rebellion Research

5 Times Artificial Intelligence Have Busted World Champions – Analytics Insight

Artificial intelligence has beaten eight world champions at the bridge

Even though people are not ready to accept the fact, there will be a point in the future when Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take over the human race when it comes to various jobs. Some analysts estimate that over 50% of jobs in the world will be lost to Artificial Intelligence in forthcoming years. Jobs like accounting, human resources, management, and more will be obsolete some time in the future, thanks to Artificial intelligence. However, you dont have to wait till 2030 to find out how technologies like Artificial intelligence, Robotics, Machine Learning, and more will overtake mankind as its already beating humans in the most strategic and complicated games like Chess and Go that have been used as a standard to determine intelligence or IQ levels. This article features five instances of Artificial intelligence busting world champions.

The victory represents a new milestone for Artificial Intelligence because, in the bridge, players work with incomplete information and must react to the behavior of several other players a scenario far closer to human decision-making.

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5 Times Artificial Intelligence Have Busted World Champions - Analytics Insight

The Guardian view on bridging human and machine learning: its all in the game – The Guardian

Last week an artificial intelligence called NooK beat eight world champion players at bridge. That algorithms can outwit humans might not seem newsworthy. IBMs Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. In 2016, Googles AlphaGo defeated a Go grandmaster. A year later the AI Libratus saw off four poker stars. Yet the real-world applications of such technologies have been limited. Stephen Muggleton, a computer scientist, suggests this is because they are black boxes that can learn better than people but cannot express, and communicate, that learning.

NooK, from French startup NukkAI, is different. It won by formulating rules, not just brute-force calculation. Bridge is not the same as chess or Go, which are two-player games based on an entirely known set of facts. Bridge is a game for four players split into two teams, involving collaboration and competition with incomplete information. Each player sees only their cards and needs to gather information about the other players hands. Unlike poker, which also involves hidden information and bluffing, in bridge a player must disclose to their opponents the information they are passing to their partner.

This feature of bridge meant NooK could explain how its playing decisions were made, and why it represents a leap forward for AI. When confronted with a new game, humans tend to learn the rules and then learn to improve by, for example, reading books. By contrast, black box AIs train themselves by deep learning: playing a game billions of times until the algorithm has worked out how to win. It is a mystery how this software comes to its conclusions or how it will fail.

NooK nods to the work of British AI pioneer Donald Michie, who reasoned that AIs highest state would be to develop new insights and teach these to humans, whose performance would be consequently increased to a level beyond that of a human studying by themselves. Michie considered weak machine learning to be just improving AI performance by increasing the amount of data ingested.

His insight has been vindicated as deep learnings limits have been exposed. Self-driving cars remain a distant dream. Radiologists were not replaced by AI last year, as had been predicted. Humans, unlike computers, often make short work of complicated, high-stake tasks. Thankfully, human society is not under constant diagnostic surveillance. But this often means not enough data for AI is available, and frequently it contains hidden, socially unacceptable biases. The environmental impact is also a growing concern, with computing projected to account for 20% of global electricity demand by 2030.

Technologies build trust if they are understandable. Theres always a danger that black box AI solves a problem in the wrong way. And the more powerful a deep-learning system becomes, the more opaque it can become. The House of Lords justice committee this week said such technologies have serious implications for human rights and warned against convictions and imprisonment on the basis of AI that could not be understood or challenged. NooK will be a world-changing technology if it lives up to the promise of solving complex problems and explaining how it does so.

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The Guardian view on bridging human and machine learning: its all in the game - The Guardian