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To some this will sound like a nanny-state hellscape, and Susskind does not shy from calling his proposed solution The Big State. He does not, however, go into detail about how exactly the community will decide which activities are worthy of payment. Perhaps we will be subject to the tyranny of a slim majority that decides dog-breeding, classical music or literary criticism are valueless activities, in which case no one will ever do them again.

But the moral objection to UBI that it will encourage laziness and anomie is always at bottom a puritan condescension. If one asked Susskind whether, if he never had to worry about money, he would just spend all day watching reruns of Bake Off and slumping into potato-ish ennui, he would probably deny it. So why assume it of everyone else?

As it turns out, Bertrand Russell anticipated this objection 90 years ago: It will be said that while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours work out of the 24. Insofar as this is true in the modern world it is a condemnation of our civilisation; it would not have been true at any earlier period. There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult ofefficiency.

Modern sceptics might still dismiss Russells argument as a Fabian pipe-dream, but the cult of efficiency is still very much abroad, and it is indeed what is driving the race to automation. Susskinds careful analysis shows that it will be an increasingly unignorable problem, even if his proposed solution will not convince everyone. At the last gasp, he even drops in the alarming recommendation that our future politicians should guide us on what it means to live a flourishing life, in the face of which prospect one might after all be happier to resign oneself to a robot apocalypse.

A World Without Work is published by Allen Lane at 20. To order your copy for 16.99, call 0844 871 1514 or visit the Telegraph Bookshop

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What will happen when robots have taken all the jobs? - Telegraph.co.uk

Last month, researchers at OpenAI in San Francisco revealed an algorithm capable of learning, through trial and error, how to manipulate the pieces of a Rubik's Cube using a robotic hand. It was a remarkable research feat, but it required more than 1,000 desktop computers plus a dozen machines running specialized graphics chips crunching intensive calculations for several months.

The effort may have consumed about 2.8 gigawatt-hours of electricity, estimates Evan Sparks, CEO of Determined AI, a startup that provides software to help companies manage AI projects. Thats roughly equal to the output of three nuclear power plants for an hour. A spokesperson for OpenAI questioned the calculation, noting that it makes several assumptions. But OpenAI declined to disclose further details of the project or offer an estimate of the electricity it consumed.

Artificial intelligence routinely produces startling achievements, as computers learn to recognize images, converse, beat humans at sophisticated games, and drive vehicles. But all those advances require staggering amounts of computing powerand electricityto devise and train algorithms. And as the damage caused by climate change becomes more apparent, AI experts are increasingly troubled by those energy demands.

The concern is that machine-learning algorithms in general are consuming more and more energy, using more data, training for longer and longer, says Sasha Luccioni, a postdoctoral researcher at Mila, an AI research institute in Canada.

Its not just a worry for academics. As more companies across more industries begin to use AI, theres growing fear that the technology will only deepen the climate crisis. Sparks says that Determined.ai is working with a pharmaceutical firm thats already using huge AI models. As an industry, its worth thinking about how we want to combat this, he adds.

Some AI researchers are thinking about it. Theyre using tools to track the energy demands of their algorithms, or taking steps to offset their emissions. A growing number are touting the energy efficiency of their algorithms in research papers and at conferences. As the costs of AI rise, the AI industry is developing a new appetite for algorithms that burn fewer kilowatts.

The concern is that machine-learning algorithms in general are consuming more and more energy, using more data, training for longer and longer.

Sasha Luccioni, Mila

Luccioni recently helped launch a website that lets AI researchers roughly calculate the carbon footprint of their algorithms. She is also testing a more sophisticated approachcode that can be added to an AI program to track the energy use of individual computer chips. Luccioni and others are also trying to persuade companies that offer tools for tracking the performance of code to include some measure of energy or carbon footprint. Hopefully this will go toward full transparency, she says. So that people will include in the footnotes we emitted X tons of carbon, which we offset.

The energy required to power cutting-edge AI has been on a steep upward curve for some time. Data published by OpenAI shows that the computing power required for key AI landmarks over the past few years, such as DeepMinds Go-playing program AlphaZero, has doubled roughly every 3.4 monthsincreasing 300,000 times between 2012 and 2018. Thats faster than the rate at which computing power historically increased, the phenomenon known as Moores Law (named after Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel.)

Recent advances in natural language processingan AI technique that helps machines parse, interpret, and generate texthave proven especially power-hungry. A research paper from a team at UMass Amherst found that training a single large NLP model may consume as much energy as a car over its entire lifetimeincluding the energy needed to build it.

Training a powerful machine-learning algorithm often means running huge banks of computers for days, if not weeks. The fine-tuning required to perfect an algorithm, by for example searching through different neural network architectures to find the best one, can be especially computationally intensive. For all the hand-wringing, though, it remains difficult to measure how much energy AI actually consumes, and even harder to predict how much of a problem it could become.

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AI Can Do Great Thingsif It Doesn't Burn the Planet - WIRED

The world champion, Magnus Carlsen, starts his 2020 campaign on Saturday when he meets his arch rival Anish Giri in the opening round at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, the traditional Dutch tournament which he has dominated ever since he won its C group aged 13. In his past eight Masters appearances there Carlsen has won seven times and placed second once.

Carlsen and Giri have had some sharp clashes on Twitter, and a highlight of the 29-year-old Norwegians interview with the Guardian on Thursday was his relish in recounting how he psychologically crushed the Dutch champion when they met at Zagreb last summer.

The Wijk pairings have been kind to Carlsen in his quest to set a world record streak of 111 games unbeaten, breaking Sergei Tiviakovs mark of 110 against lesser opponents in 2004-05. He is in the top half of the draw with an extra White, and will hope for full points from some of his next opponents Yu Yangyi, Jeffery Xiong and Jorden van Foreest.

Carlsen is in the best form of his career after his vintage 2019 when he won 10 elite events, was unbeaten in classical play, held three global crowns, and in his spare time briefly reached No 1 in Fantasy Premier League. The fifth round at Wijk will be played in PSV Eindhovens Philips Stadion. Rounds start at 1.30pm and are free and live to watch online with grandmaster and computer commentaries.

Last summer, when Carlsen triumphed in Zagreb, where his game was zestful and sharp after his work with AlphaZero, he looked ready to break his own record rating of 2889 points and go for a round 2900. That proved a bridge too far and he starts the year at 2872. He will not achieve all those 28 points at Wijk but a strong performance there would set up another shot at the record in the spring.

Dangers abound. Fabiano Caruana, the world No 2, chose a lower profile in 2019 but will aim at a good start to the year before the candidates in March where the American aims to qualify for a world title rematch and avenge his defeat in 2018. Wesley So, the winner at Wijk 2017 in Carlsens only blemish, crushed him in Oslo for the Fischer Random title.

Alireza Firouzja, the 16-year-old whose world blitz game against Carlsen sparked a huge controversy, will aim to match Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky and Carlsen himself, who all showed their world class at that age.

Tata Steel Wijk is such a reliably classic fixture to launch the chess year that it is easy to forget that its future is not assured. Steel production is in severe decline in Europe, and 2019 was a poor year for Tata Steel Netherlands. In November the Indian multinational announced job cuts which may involve nearly 20% of its 9,000 Dutch workforce.

Chinas Ju Wenjun, 28, took a 2.5-1.5 lead on Thursday in her womens world title defence against Russias Aleksandra Goryachkina, 21. Their 12-game series has a record prize fund 500,000 for any womens world championship, though this is still only a fraction of what Carlsen and his challenger will earn later this year. The first half is in Shanghai, with a 7.30am start, and the second half at Vladivostok from 5.30am.

For most of this century the womens title has been decided by a 64-player knockout, leading to a rapid turnover of champions, but the format has now reverted to a candidates tournament and a title match. Nigel Short is trebling up as chairman of the appeals committee, official match commentator and Fide representative.

The womens match which would attract most interest from chess fans, between the two clearly best players of all time, has never happened except for a single game in the 2012 Gibraltar Open. Judit Polgar v Hou Yifan is the female version of Bobby Fischer v Anatoly Karpov, the legends match that never was. It could still happen if Rex Sinquefield, who organises many similar events at St Louis, gets involved.

3653 After 1...Rd6+? 2 Kc3 Qf3+ 3 Qe3 Blacks checks ran out and White won with his extra rook. Instead 1...Qf3+! wins after 2 Kc4 (2 Kc2 Re2 wins Q for R) Re4+! 3 Kc5 Qa3+! when 4 Rb4 a5 and 4 Kxc6 Qa6+ both win a rook when Blacks extra pawns decide.

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Chess: Magnus Carlsen to face arch rival Anish Giri in opening round at Wijk - The Guardian

Magnus Carlsen ended his vintage year of 2019 as he began it, as a superb all-round player who outclasses his rivals. Carlsen won at Wijk in January last year and at Moscow in December where he took both the world 30-minute rapid and the five-minute blitz crowns, losing only one game out of 38.

Overall the Norwegian, 29, won 10 elite tournaments over the year, with just two odd failures at speed in St Louis and at Fischer Random in Oslo. The standout difference between todays champion and Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov is that Carlsen has been far more active than the other legends in their peak years, taking on new challenges with hardly a break. And in his spare time he briefly became world No 1 in Fantasy Premier League. True, Kasparov was No 1 for some 21 years while Carlsen is eight years and counting.

Carlsens style has become sharper since he worked in 2018 with AlphaZero and the creative tactician Daniil Dubov: For me it is easier to play for a win. Perhaps the others risk more if they do so. I think thats the brutal truth. If you are a bit better you can afford to take more risks.

It will be different in 2020, as Carlsen has already announced: I will definitely play less. I have played a lot this year and my level of energy has become empty at the end. Not realistic to play as much in 2020, he said.

Three major targets remain. At Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee starting on 11 January he can break Sergei Tiviakovs record of 110 classical games unbeaten. Carlsen missed out on a 2900 classical rating despite getting near it in mid-year, so this can be a 2020 target. His current rating is 2872 and his all-time peak remains at 2889.

Perhaps most of all, Carlsen will want to defend his title more convincingly than in 2014, when with the scores level at 2.5 each Vishy Anand missed a simple winning chance, or 2016 and 2018 when the classical scores were tied at 6-6 before Carlsen defeated Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana in speed tie-breaks. As of now, Caruana and Chinas Ding Liren are the favourites to win the candidates in March and Carlsen respects them both as serious contenders.

Aside from Carlsen, the main talking point at Moscow was Alireza Firouzja, who quit his native Iran due to its ban on playing Israelis and will probably represent France, where he now lives.

The 16-year-old is already perceived as a potential world title challenger in the mid 2020s, so the dramatic end to his blitz game with the champion, where he missed several wins before his controversial loss on time, has become compulsive viewing.

The final position, where Carlsen had a lone bishop and a tablebase draw, was a loss for Firouzja under Fide rules because a mating position was legally possible. The teen often plays blitz games on websites where the rule is different, so that WK a8 WP a6 v BK c7 BN c8 with White to move and 1 a7 Nb6 mate is forced, may become a draw online if White loses on time and the server then decrees that Black lacks mating material.

Firouzja requested to see the Fide rule in print, an action paralleled long ago when Yuri Averbakh and Viktor Korchnoi were not sure of the rules on castling. His appeal against the result was doomed to fail because he had not complained during the game when he alleged he was disturbed by Carlsen speaking in Norwegian. Carlsen was magnanimous afterwards, but such incidents can have lasting effects on relationships between players.

Hastings has its final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday afternoon (2.15pm start). Online viewing is available on two different sites and includes computer commentary.

3652 1...Bxg2+! 2 Rxg2 and now Duda fell for 2...Re1+?? 3 Rg1 Qc1 4 Rxh5+! Instead 2...Qc1+! 3 Qg1 (3 Rg1 Rxh2+) Re1 wins for Black.

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Chess: Carlsen wins speed titles after controversial game with rising star - The Guardian

12/25/2019 Another eventful chess year is behind us, with great events and tournaments, impressive personalities and fantastic chess games. Help us choose the player of the year, the female player of the year, the game of the year, the combination of the year and the endgame of the year in our annual ChessBase reader poll. First up: The Player of the Year...

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For each poll, our editorial team has provided a list of nominees.Even with a panel involved, these are of course a bit subjective.And since we have limited ourselves to five players, undoubtedly some readers may miss theirfavoured choice.Our shortlist is one of many possible, we know!

The order of the players is arbitrary and you can votebelow.

Alongside Ding Liren and Wei Yi, Wang Hao is one of the greatest Chinese talents.He became a grand master at the age of 16 and since then has enjoyed numerous international successes.He won the Al Ain Classic in 2015, the HD Bank Cup in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016 and the Sharjah Masters and the Asian Continental Championships in 2017.But Wang celebrated the high point of his career so far in 2019. In addition to repeating histriumph in Ho Chi Minh City by winning 9th HD BankCup, in October, with his victory at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss tournament on the Isle of Man, perhaps the strongest open tournament of all time, he qualified for the 2020 Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg. Thatmakeshim the second Chinese player after Ding to make it into this or anyCandidates Tournament.

Wang Hao with the Isle of Man win | Photo: John Saunders

Alexander Grischuk has had a long and very successful career.Among other things, he has already participated in candidates competitions four times (2007, 2011, 2013 and 2018) and was world champion in blitz chess in 2006, 2012 and 2015.

In 2019, Grischuk qualified for his fifth candidates tournament thanks to his success at the Grand Prix tournaments in Moscow, Riga and Hamburg.

Alexander Grischuk at the Grand Prix | Photo: Niki Riga

For Magnus Carlsen, world champion since 2013 and number 1 in the world rankings since July 2011, this year was extremely successful.During the course of the year he played 77 games with classic time control, won 30, and drew47.So Carlsen not only remained unbeaten in 2019, but in fact he has not lost a single game at the tournament since Biel 2018 when he went down toShakhriyar Mamedyarov on July 31, 2018. That's107 classical gamesin a row!

Carlsen's record in 2019 corresponds to an Elo performance of 2893 and in the first half of the year Carlsen won every classical tournament he played in.

Magnus Carlsen has reasons to smile | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Teimour Radjabov had great success as a teenager.He became grandmaster in March 2001 at the age of 14, which made him the second youngest of all time.In 2003 he caused a sensation when be beat Garry Kasparov in a dramatic game at theLinares tournament.

In 2011 and 2013, Radjabov qualified for the candidates tournament and in November 2012 he reached as high as number 4 in the world rankings.But after his disappointing performance at the 2013 Candidates Tournament in London, Radjabov continued to slide down in the world rankings and, he says, was thinking about ending his chess career.

However, the Azerbaijani made a comeback at the World Cup 2019: he defeated Ding Liren in the final matchwinningthe tournament and thus qualified for the 2020 candidates.

Teimour Radjabov at the World Cup | Photo: Kyrill Merkuryev

Ding Liren wasthe first Chinese to qualify for a candidates tournament.In the past few years Ding has established himself among the world elite through consistently good results and strong play.From August 2017 to November 2018, he remained unbeaten in 100 games with a classical time control, and he also celebrated a number of successes in 2019.

In August 2019, Ding won the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis after beating Carlsen in the tiebreak the first time that Carlsen lost a tiebreak as the reigning World Champion.In October, Ding finished second in the World Cup for the second time in a row.He lost to Radjabov in the final, but qualified for the 2020 candidates tournament. The Chinesewas more successful at the Grand Chess Tourfinal in London in December: Ding won against Levon Aronian in the semi-finals of the tournament and then against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final, which ensured overall victory in the 2019 Grand Chess Tour.

Ding Liren | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Who is your pick forthe "Player of the Year 2019"?

spieler-des-jahres-2019

Voting ends on 12/31/2019, at 22:00 UTC

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Vote: The player of the year 2019 - Chessbase News