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Teaming up with Oxford University on Artificial Intelligence

59 points by __Joker 12y ago

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
tortos123 12y ago
Its nice to see that the world is moving towards AI. Sky-net Incoming :)
- Udo 12y ago
  Only a minuscule fraction of people who work with/in AI are doing general artificial intelligence. The rest is really more about making sense of the vast and growing amounts of data our world produces. The non-human intelligences that benefit from this are corporations, not artificial minds. It's actually sad that AGI research is still a fringe idea.
  - tormeh 12y ago
    Well, the brain seems to be a collection of a whole lot of fancy algorithms, and the statisticians are making a big contribution here.
  - AndrewKemendo 12y ago
    Sadly, you are correct. The AGI conference this year was about 84 people total. Growing, but nowhere near where it needs to be.
  - wuschel 12y ago
    I am not into the research field of general artifical intelligence. How does the "Human Brain Project" fit into this matter? It seems to me like the EU is directing quite a financial package into the direction of AGI, at least when it comes to understanding human brain activity and functionality. link: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/ https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/
    - Udo 12y ago
      The Human Brain Project is a basic science endeavor, it's not directly related to AGI research. In principle, there are two directions AGI work is going: one is the brain emulation approach, the other is aiming at creating a synthetic mind from scratch. Obviously, this is a spectrum with two extreme ends, but compared to overall AI work being performed by our civilization not a lot of people are working on this at all (which is surprising considering the implications of even a moderate success). A lot of the brain simulation and mapping projects concern themselves not with running an actual mind on silicon. Instead, they are fundamental science projects with goals like modeling neuronal behavior or helping out in pharmaceutical research. Even the "neuron-like" processors that are starting to come out right now are not intended for AGI.
iamdanfox 12y ago
I'll be interested to see what impact this has on the overall CS department at Oxford. CS in the UK is growing, but still has a much lower profile than in the States. In Stanford, CS is a well-known (!), popular major whereas here in Oxford, the 2013-14 CS class consists of just 69 people. [1] I, for one, welcome our new Google overlords. [1]:http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ugadmissions/how_to_apply/ http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ugadmissions/how_to_apply/
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Maybe Oxford is a little slower to adopt 'fad' majors. Computer science was invented in 1965 at Carnegie Mellon. Only 50 years have passed - Oxford is just noticing this modern field and may come to accept it as a lasting discipline in another 50?
  - tormeh 12y ago
    Oxbridge follows the British consensus that values general education more than the specialist fields. If you want the best engineering education in the UK you go to Imperial College.
    - CHY872 12y ago
      To those who read this, this statement is completely incorrect. It's actually very interesting how (in general) Britain's degrees are far more specialised from far earlier (than the US), and this is no different for either Oxford or Cambridge. I won't comment on the fanboyism :)
      - tormeh 12y ago
        Well, the impression I have is that Oxbridge is for scientist and theoreticians, while Imperial is for the profession studies - engineering and medicine, basically. I got the generalist thing from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11136511 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11136511
    - smeyer 12y ago

59 points by __Joker 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

tortos123 12y ago

Its nice to see that the world is moving towards AI. Sky-net Incoming :)

Udo 12y ago
Only a minuscule fraction of people who work with/in AI are doing general artificial intelligence. The rest is really more about making sense of the vast and growing amounts of data our world produces. The non-human intelligences that benefit from this are corporations, not artificial minds. It's actually sad that AGI research is still a fringe idea.
- tormeh 12y ago
  Well, the brain seems to be a collection of a whole lot of fancy algorithms, and the statisticians are making a big contribution here.
- AndrewKemendo 12y ago
  Sadly, you are correct. The AGI conference this year was about 84 people total. Growing, but nowhere near where it needs to be.
- wuschel 12y ago
  I am not into the research field of general artifical intelligence. How does the "Human Brain Project" fit into this matter? It seems to me like the EU is directing quite a financial package into the direction of AGI, at least when it comes to understanding human brain activity and functionality. link: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/ https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/
  - Udo 12y ago
    The Human Brain Project is a basic science endeavor, it's not directly related to AGI research. In principle, there are two directions AGI work is going: one is the brain emulation approach, the other is aiming at creating a synthetic mind from scratch. Obviously, this is a spectrum with two extreme ends, but compared to overall AI work being performed by our civilization not a lot of people are working on this at all (which is surprising considering the implications of even a moderate success). A lot of the brain simulation and mapping projects concern themselves not with running an actual mind on silicon. Instead, they are fundamental science projects with goals like modeling neuronal behavior or helping out in pharmaceutical research. Even the "neuron-like" processors that are starting to come out right now are not intended for AGI.

iamdanfox 12y ago

I'll be interested to see what impact this has on the overall CS department at Oxford. CS in the UK is growing, but still has a much lower profile than in the States. In Stanford, CS is a well-known (!), popular major whereas here in Oxford, the 2013-14 CS class consists of just 69 people. [1] I, for one, welcome our new Google overlords. [1]:http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ugadmissions/how_to_apply/ http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ugadmissions/how_to_apply/

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
Maybe Oxford is a little slower to adopt 'fad' majors. Computer science was invented in 1965 at Carnegie Mellon. Only 50 years have passed - Oxford is just noticing this modern field and may come to accept it as a lasting discipline in another 50?
- tormeh 12y ago
  Oxbridge follows the British consensus that values general education more than the specialist fields. If you want the best engineering education in the UK you go to Imperial College.
  - CHY872 12y ago
    To those who read this, this statement is completely incorrect. It's actually very interesting how (in general) Britain's degrees are far more specialised from far earlier (than the US), and this is no different for either Oxford or Cambridge. I won't comment on the fanboyism :)
    - tormeh 12y ago
      Well, the impression I have is that Oxbridge is for scientist and theoreticians, while Imperial is for the profession studies - engineering and medicine, basically. I got the generalist thing from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11136511 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11136511
  - smeyer 12y ago