2016 saw many advancements in the AI field, but it looks like this year see even bigger and better things. We take a look at the predictions for this year!

1. Four Predictions for AI in 2017
What advances will this year bring?

2. Content
• Language
• Neural Networks
• China and the AI Focus
• Reinforcement Learning

3. Overview
• 2016 saw great advancements in the artificial industry and machine learning industry,
but 2017 is looking to bring even more about. We take a look at the top four
advancements that everyone should keep an eye out for:

4. Language
• With the immense progress seen in terms
of voice and image recognition by AI, one
of the next big focuses is language.
Researchers are honing on their vision on
helping computers generate language with
more ease and more efficiency. Full-blown
conversations with machines has long
been a fascination of humanity, but with all
the complexities and subtleties of
language, it’s going to be a herculean
effort.
• While 2017 will surely see great
advancements in this area, for the time
being our Siri’s and Alexa’s won’t make for
great debate club partners. However, it’s
probably only a matter of time!

5. Neural Networks
• The new buzz around machine-learning is centered around a technique called generative
adversarial networks. The brainchild of Ian Goodfellow (currently a research scientist at OpenAI),
GANs are systems made up of one network that generates new data after learning from a training
set. It’s completed by another one that tries to tell the difference between factual and fake data.
These dual networks, by working in tandem can produce realistic synthetic data.
• So, what can this be used for you ask? Well it could be used to de-blur pixelated footage or generate
video-game scenery among other things. According to Yoshua Bengio, who was Goodfellow’s PhD
advisor, said this new development is highly exciting due to the possibilities that it brings. This
system that allows machines to learn and make sense from unlabelled data appears to be intrinsic
in making machines far more intelligent in the upcoming years.

6. China and the AI focus
• 2017 may be the year when China becomes a
major player in AI. It’s leading AI focused
company, Baidu, has been focusing on artificial
intelligence for quite some time now and is
making advances in terms of natural language
processing and voice recognition. China’s tech
industry is no longer solely taking from or
copying Western companies, having identified
AI as the next big thing in innovation
• Baidu however, isn’t the only company with its
eyes set on AI. Other companies causing a stir
in the field are Tencent (mobile-first messaging
and WeChat app) and Didi (ride-sharing) and
the Chinese government has pledged to invest
around £12 billion by the end of next year.

7. Reinforcement learning
• Last year saw AlphaGo’s historic victory against one of the best Go players of all time (Lee
Sedol) and this year will see AlphaGo take on 5 different players at the same time. The
victory was a landmark particularly in the advancement of deep reinforcement learning.
This technique is inspired from how animals learn that certain behaviours have a positive or
a negative outcome.
• By using this approach, machines can for example learn how to navigate a maze and
through trial and error discern the positive outcome. Researchers and academics have been
toying with this notion for decades now, but now thanks to the deep neural networks, the
power to make it actually happen is there. In the case of AlphaGo, it figured out how to win
the game at an expert level through relentless experimentation and analysis.
• It's hoped now that with the evolution of reinforcement learning, it’ll prove to be useful in
many instances. 2017 will most likely see attempts to use reinforcement learning when
dealing with issues in industrial robotics or automated driving.

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