artificial intelligence news stories on Newser

Man Who Coined 'Artificial Intelligence' Dead at 84

Mark Russell — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:39:43 CDT

John McCarthy, the computer scientist who coined the term "artificial intelligence" in 1955, died Monday, reports the New York Times . He was 84. McCarthy was teaching mathematics at Dartmouth when he organized the first Artificial Intelligence conference in 1956. Later he founded AI labs at MIT and Stanford, and created...

IBM Creates Chip That Works Like Human Brain

Kevin Spak — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:36:05 CDT

IBM has created a prototype chip that mimics the workings of the human brain, simulating synapses, neurons, and axons in the hopes of creating a computer that can learn and think, the company announced today. So far these “cognitive computing chips” have only been put to simple tasks like navigation...

Virtual Stanford Class Goes Viral, 58K Sign Up

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:05:50 CDT

Last year, Stanford's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence class drew 177 students. This year, a free online course on artificial intelligence will boast 58,000—almost four times the size of the prestigious university's entire student body. The course is one of three being offered by Stanford's computer science department in...

The New Gambler: Poker Bots

Matt Cantor — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:57:52 CDT

Online poker’s not just for humans anymore: Robots have entered the game, and they’re winning tens of thousands, the New York Times reports. Such bots have existed for a while—but only recently have they gotten good at the game, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence. Top game sites like...

Jeopardy Challenge Ends With Humans Crushed

Rob Quinn — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:03:07 CST

"I for one, welcome our new computer overlords," defeated Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings wrote below his final answer as the game show's 3-day supercomputer challenge wrapped up. IBM's Watson finished way ahead with $77,147 while Jennings and Brad Rutter—the two most successful human contestants in Jeopardy history—finished...

Jeopardy Computer Trounces Humans On Day 2

Rob Quinn — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:53:09 CST

Watson trounced its human opponents on the second day of the 3-day Jeopardy challenge, but humanity saved some face after the IBM supercomputer goofed on the final question. The category was US cities and the clue was "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second...

Man Ties With Machine in Jeopardy Showdown

Rob Quinn — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:09:56 CST

The first round of Jeopardy 's three-game man versus supercomputer showdown finished Monday night with humanity having fended off the rise of the machine. Human player Brad Rutter, the game show's record money-winner, was tied with IBM supercomputer Watson at $5,000 at the close of play, AP reports. The...

Jeopardy to Pit Humans Versus Machine

Rob Quinn — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:03:00 CST

IBM's 'Watson" computer program may not be able to pass the Turing test of a machine's "intelligence," but its makers are betting it can pass the Trebek test. The computer will compete against two of the most intelligent human contestants in Jeopardy history in three episodes of the game show...

Prof Gets $700K in Stimulus Cash to Write Jokes

Kevin Spak — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:32:00 CDT

Here’s a knee-slapper for you: A Northwestern University professor has snagged $712,883 worth of stimulus funds for his efforts to teach computers how to create jokes. Kristian Hammond and his grad students are working on a “machine-generated humor” project that aims to create “structured queries that lead to interesting,...