Is Deep-Layered Machine Learning the Catalyst for an Artificial General Intelligence Revolution? - Itamar Arel - H+ Summit @ Harvard

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Deep machine learning is driving advances in perception, situation inference, and capturing spatiotemporal regularities that could lead to artificial general intelligence. Deep learning uses a biologically inspired hierarchical architecture similar to cortical circuits in the brain. When combined with reinforcement learning for decision making under uncertainty, deep learning is making progress on tasks like speech recognition, image recognition, and more, bringing artificial general intelligence closer to reality. We should start discussing the moral, social, and economic implications of developing artificial general intelligence.

Technology Education

IS DEEP-LAYERED MACHINE
LEARNING THE CATALYST FOR
AN ARTIFICIAL GENERAL
INTELLIGENCE REVOLUTION?
Itamar Arel - Machine Intelligence Lab @ The University of Tennessee
http://mil.engr.utk.edu

The AGI Technological Convergence

 Deep machine learning
 Drives perception Deep-layered Decision
Learning Control
 Situation inference

 Capturing spatiotemporal
regularities VLSI technology

 Decision making subsystem
 Reinforcement learning based
 Maps situations to decisions

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

Deep Machine Learning

 Biologically-inspired
computational intelligence
framework
 Goal: learning to perceive/
represent the world

 Hypothesis: brain represents
information using a hierarchical
architecture of cortical circuits

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

Deep Machine Learning (cont’)
4

 Single cortical circuit
 Spatiotemporal modeling
 Bottom-up and to-down
signaling
 Higher layers capture more
abstract notions

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

Decision Making under Uncertainty

 We know that …
 Learning is driven by rewards/reinforcements
 Intelligence  “strategic thinking”

 Continuous process

 Reinforcement learning
 Learning from experience
 Reward driven

 Solves “Credit assignment problem”

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

Making Headway with Deep Learning
6

 Speech analytics
 Speakerrecognition
 Language ID

 Image recognition
 Emotion
recognition
 Behavior
recognition

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

Closing Thoughts …
7

 The pieces of the puzzle are here
 Progress toward AGI is being made

 The right time to discuss

 Moral implications
 Socioeconomic impact

 Regulatory policies

 AGI could be in the near future …

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

8

UT Machine Intelligence Lab http://mil.engr.utk.edu

The team in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge has developed mind reading computers that implement a computational model of mind reading to infer mental states of people from their facial signals. Using a digital video camera, the mind reading computer system analyzes a person’s underlying mental state, such as whether he/she is agreeing or disagreeing, interested or bored, thinking or confused.

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Download the PPT to view GIF.. Introduction:Simple way of Mind Reading is by just seeing and understanding the facial expressions. Example a smile can give the expression of happiness. Now a days it is possible that a computer can understand what the person is thinking about. People express their mental states, including emotions, thoughts and desires, all the time through facial expressions, and gestures. Our mental states shape the decisions that we make, govern how we communicate with others, and affect our performance. Some equipments are used to gather data & then analyzed to use those data for further predictions of mind-This is known as theory of Mind Reading.

Understanding intelligence is one of the most challenging scientific problems faced by humanity. This talk will provide an introduction to the multi-disciplinary field of Computational Neuroscience: the questions it seeks to answer and some of the (mathematical & computational) techniques used to investigate how we fundamentally think. Currently doing his Computational Neuroscience PhD at the University of Cape Town, Chris has a wonderfully weird background in machine learning, neuroscience, and psychology. He is fascinated by how we think and learn, sometimes to a fault, and how this works in both biological and artificial intelligence.

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The Foundations of Artificial Intelligence, The History of Artificial Intelligence, and the State of the Art. Intelligent Agents: Introduction, How Agents should Act, Structure of Intelligent Agents, Environments. Solving Problems by Searching: problem-solving Agents, Formulating problems, Example problems, and searching for Solutions, Search Strategies, Avoiding Repeated States, and Constraint Satisfaction Search. Informed Search Methods: Best-First Search, Heuristic Functions, Memory Bounded Search, and Iterative Improvement Algorithms.

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Computation of Things - Justyna Zander, Pieter Mosterman - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Humanity Plus

Justyna Zander Harvard University Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS Computation of Things: Challenges and Solutions for the Needs of Humanity Presented with Pieter J. Mosterman The current exponential growth of technologies is providing novel, frequently unimaginable ways of leveraging its applications for human needs. Ubiquitous communication capabilities allow a redefinition of an individual person as one who is becoming an integrated part of the virtual world and vice versa. The challenge of sustainable development of those trends from the perspective of a single human and humanity as such remains unsolved. In the presented vision various aspects of the sustainability (e.g., the relation between a person’s quality of life, climate change, and social awareness) are highlighted to explore and share how an individual impacts and is impacted by the surrounding. Ultimately a technological solution called Computation of Things (CoTh) is outlined. It allows for a quick and reliable assessment of people’s possible decision paths and how this affects sustainable development on a local and global scale. Forecasting life-path alternatives for a human based on its geographic position (including pollution level, energy usage), activity patterns (including nutrition habits, lifestyle, travelling load, family status, circle of friends, social network, or virtual life), and state patterns (including individual’s DNA, current health conditions, musculature) is targeted. CoTh enables an understanding of the individual self and its surrounding based on the micro-scale information that combines with macro-scale data to enable prediction of different life scenarios. It is defined as an abundant supply of predictive computation capabilities of high performance and large-scale applicability with high accuracy and quality so as to allow for providing humanity’s physical, physiological, mental, and spiritual needs in a profound and as of yet unfathomed manner. Its core is strongly connoted with physical systems engineering. Thus, a parallelly-conducted research on the notion of computation deploys computational models as the primary representations of physics, instead of attempting to approximate first principles ever closer. A theory of treating models as dynamic systems themselves follows. This evokes the promise for a fundamental breakthrough in terms of computational semantics the significance of which becomes paramount as far as the faithfulness of the predictions is considered. Dr. Justyna Zander is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Harvard University (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative) in Cambridge, MA, USA (since 2009) and Project Manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems in Berlin, Germany (since 2004). She holds Doctorate of Engineering Science (2008) and Master of Science (2005), both in the fields of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Technical University Berlin, Germany, Bachelor of Science (2004) in Computer Science, and Bachelor of Science (2003) in Environmental Protection and Management from Gdansk University of Technology, Poland. She graduated from the Singularity University, Mountain View, CA, USA in 2009 where she then was a Teaching Fellow in 2010. Before she was a visiting scholar at the University of California in San Diego, CA, USA in 2007, and a visiting researcher at The MathWorks in Natick, MA, USA in 2008. Her research interests include heterogeneous system development, design, simulation, computation, humanities, and future studies. For her scientific efforts Dr. Zander received grants and scholarships from such institutions as Polish Prime Ministry (1999-2000), Polish Ministry of Education and Sport (2001–2004), German Academic Exchange Service (2002), European Union (2003-2004), Hertie Foundation (2004-2005), IFIP TC6 (2005), German National Academic Foundation Grant (2005-2008), IEEE (2006), Siemens (2007), Metodos y Tecnologia (2008), Singularit

Far Beyond Smartphones - David Wood - H+ Summit @ Harvard

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Far Beyond Smartphones: Lessons From Disruptive Technology, Open collaboration, and Breakthrough Mobile products David Wood has spent more than 20 years envisioning, architecting, implementing, supporting, and avidly using smart mobile devices (devices that can also be called "personal electronic brains"): ten years with PDA manufacturer Psion PLC, and then ten more with smartphone operating system specialist Symbian Ltd. He was centrally involved in preparations and planning for the open source Symbian Foundation. Over that time, many lessons have emerged, highly relevant to the H+ mission to explore how humanity will be radically changed by technology in the near future: What factors cause both spurts and slowdowns in technology development? What enables new technology visions to "cross the chasm" towards mainstream adoption? Given the history of improvements in smart mobile devices over the last 20 years, what can we realistically expect in the next 20 years? How credible is the vision of mobile devices helping billions of people to collect data that can be used for science and advance human knowledge? To what extent can technological progress be foreseen, and to what extent is the process chaotic, risky, and even dangerous? David Wood spent ten years with PDA manufacturer Psion PLC, and then ten more with smartphone operating system specialist Symbian Ltd, where he was co-founder and executive vice president. His background includes: many years building and integrating UI system software and application frameworks in 16-bit and 32-bit versions of “EPOC” software (later named “Symbian OS”); growing and directing the technical consulting teams that worked with leading phone manufacturers to create the world’s first successful smartphones; and defining and running development programs to stimulate and nurture the fast-growing Symbian partner ecosystem. From the first half of 2008, he was involved in preparations and planning for the independent open source Symbian Foundation. He served on the Leadership Team of the Symbian Foundation as “Catalyst and Futurist” until October 2009. I continue these same roles from within Delta Wisdom. He has an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University and an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Westminster. In September 2009 he was included in T3's list of "100 most influential people in technology": http://tech100.t3.com/list/80-61/.

UX Rocks - Mei Li - H+ Summit @ HarvardHumanity Plus

Stepping Stones - Mikhail Shapiro - H+ Summit @ HarvardHumanity Plus

Military 2.0 - Patrick Lin - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Humanity Plus

For better or worse, the military is a major driver of technological, world-changing innovations, such as the Internet. At the same time, wars and armed conflicts are a key roadblock in the evolution of humanity. Therefore, to understand how emerging technologies will change our lives, we must look at their military origins as a harbinger of things to come for society at large. This presentation will focus on ethical and policy questions arising from two key areas making headlines today and in the future: human enhancement technologies and robotics. For instance, are there moral or practical issues with eliminating human emotions such as fear or anger, which have led to abuses and accidents in wartime? Must these enhancements (and others, such as super-strength) be temporary or reversible, considering that soldiers usually return to civilian life? Robots can discourage such abuses if equipped with cameras, becoming objective and unblinking observers on the battlefield, but would this erode cohesion and trust among soldiers – and in the civilian realm, would surveillance robots infringe on our privacy? Generally, would these new technologies make it easier to engage in war, since they would lower political costs by reducing the number of casualties on our side – if so, is it immoral, or otherwise counterproductive to humanity's progress, to develop these capabilities? Patrick Lin is the director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group , based at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Most recently, he has led research efforts that culminated in two major reports: Autonomous Military Robotics: Risk, Ethics, and Design (funded by the U.S. Dept. of Defense/Navy, 2008) and Ethics of Human Enhancement: 25 Questions & Answers (funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, 2009). He has published several books and papers in the field of technology ethics, including a new monograph What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?: From Science to Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) and a forthcoming anthology Robot Ethics: The Social and Ethical Implication of Robotics (MIT Press, in preparation). Dr. Lin earned his B.A. from University of California at Berkeley, M.A. and Ph.D. from University of California at Santa Barbara, and completed a three-year post-doctoral appointment at Dartmouth College. He is currently an assistant professor in Cal Poly’s philosophy department and an ethics fellow at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Sparking Our Neural Humanity - M. A. Greenstein - H+ Summit - Humanity+

Humanity Plus

M. A. Greenstein, an internationally recognized commentator, researcher and coach on best and future practices for "opening the doors of perception". Based in L. A. with networked alliances throughout the AsiaPacific region, she founded The George Greenstein Institute and the future-focused e-zine BODIES IN SPACE to advance global change in designing creative and holistic learning systems as well as to encourage progressive leadership in related issues of neurotech innovation and designing sustainable lifestyles. Dedicated to BIG THINKING energized by visionary "sci-art" and anchored by S.I.T. (Somatic Intelligence Training), Dr. G is a whole-brain systems generator who privileges "interoception" as a search engine for catapulting & mapping best design images and ideas. An Adjunct Associate Professor at Art Center College of Design, Dr. G. is also member of TED, Mindshare.la, The Neuroleadership Institute and in alliance with the Society for Neuroscience and the Neurotechnology Industry Organization.

Democratizing The Genome - Melanie Swan - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Humanity Plus

Exponential declines in the cost of human genome sequencing is starting to put applications in the hands of researchers and consumers that were only dreamt of previously. Individuals are starting to have access to their own genomic data which can be actionable in a variety of ways including drug response, health condition analysis, athletic capability, and ancestry. DIYgenomics is a new platform bringing citizen scientists together to run peer cohort research studies and conduct novel research linking genetic data and physical biomarkers. Some norms are developing in response to the variety of community-based research issues that arise such as adaptive studies, informed consent, security, anonymity, and study design. Melanie Swan is a genomics researcher, hedge fund manager, and leader in the Health 2.0 movement. Recent publications include “Multigenic Condition Risk Assessment in Direct-to-Consumer Genomic Services,” “Engineering Life into Technology,” and “Emerging Patient-Driven Health Care Models.” She serves as an advisor to research foundations, government agencies, corporations, and startups. Melanie has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Georgetown University. She is an advisor and faculty member at Singularity University.

Altered Carbon - Andrew Hessel - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Humanity Plus

Andrew Hessel is an outspoken advocate and champion of DNA technologies, catalyzing new project developments, investment, and relationships in synthetic biology and bioengineering. His overarching message is that biology is poised to become the IT industry of the 21st century, fueled by a new generation of young researchers and entrepreneurs armed with technologies like DNA sequencing and synthesis that are becoming exponentially more powerful yet increasingly inexpensive. The possible applications are virtually limitless and include the typical global challenges (sustainable fuel production, environmental remediation, and better diagnosis treatment of human disease) but also extend into new, uncharted scientific territories. His popular lectures at the Singularity University and his visioning work reinforce that the foundations for this new industry are already in place, that it will grow explosively once the first few killer applications find commercial success, and that it will change the world, and humanity itself, in profound yet perhaps evolutionary necessary ways.

Do We Click? - Laurent Silbert - H+ Summit @ Harvard

Humanity Plus

Do we click? Speaker-listener neural coupling underlies successful communication Verbal communication enables us to directly convey information across brains, independent of the actual external state of affairs (e.g. telling a story of past events). Such phenomenon may be reflected in the ability of the speaker to directly induce similar brain patterns in another individual, via speech, in the absence of any other stimulation. The recording of the neural responses from both the speaker brain and the listener brain opens a new window into the neural basis of interpersonal communication, and may be used to assess verbal and non-verbal forms of interaction in both human and other model systems. Further understanding of the neural processes that facilitate neural coupling across interlocutors may shed light on the mechanisms by which our brains interact and bind to form societies. The capacity to communicate internal thoughts from one person to another is at the foundation of human society. Communication naturally requires an interaction between at least two people. Existing neurolinguistic studies are concerned, however, either with speech production or with the comprehension of isolated words or sentences. Little is known, therefore, about the underlying neuronal mechanism that facilitates the transfer of information between two brains during communication. Understanding the interaction between a speaker’s brain and a listener’s brain in the context of real-world communication requires the development of new experimental paradigms. Using function Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we measured neural signals from two brains (a speaker and a listener) during a complex everyday communication. We then built a simple, interpretable model that leverages the dynamics of fMRI and uses the speaker’s brain responses as a model for predicting the brain responses within the listener. Our model reveals that during successful communication, the speaker and listener’s brains exhibit joint, temporally coupled, response patterns. Such speaker-listener neural coupling vanishes when participants fail to communicate (such as with different languages). The temporal nature of this speaker-listener coupling suggests that an ability to evoke similar brain patterns in another individual via speech may gate our communication abilities. Moreover, while in most areas the listeners’ brain responses mirror the speaker’s responses with a delay, some areas in the listeners’ brain exhibit predictive anticipatory responses. Finally, we found that the extent of the anticipatory neuronal coupling between interlocutors is predictive of communicative success. Currently a PhD candidate in Neuroscience from Princeton University, Silbert also has a Bachelors from University of Pennsylvania (Biology and Photography), Masters in Neuroscience from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Masters in Psychology from NYU.

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