Lifeboat Foundation

Generative adversarial networks are not just good for causing mischief. They can also show us how AI algorithms “think.”

Journalist Ashlee Vance travels to Montreal, Canada to meet the founders of Lyrebird, a startup that is using AI to clone human voices with frightening precision.

Hello World is a Webby and Emmy-nominated video series from Bloomberg that invites the viewer to come on a journey across the globe to find the inventors, scientists and technologists shaping our future. Join journalist and best-selling author Ashlee Vance on a quest to find the freshest, weirdest tech creations and the beautiful freaks behind them.

Continue reading “This AI Can Clone Any Voice, Including Yours” »

The rise of “self-aware” robots has come a major step closer following the invention of a machine capable of thinking for itself from scratch, scientists have said.

Engineers at Columbia University claim to have smashed one of the biggest barriers in the field of robotics after a mechanical arm, which had not been programmed with any instructions, began performing practical tasks after just a few hours.

The team said this is the first time a robot has shown the ability to “imagine itself”, thereby working out what its purpose is and how to perform it.

Continue reading “Robot that thinks for itself from scratch brings forward rise the self-aware machines” »

Global thermonuclear war. The slight possibility that a massive asteroid could boop Earth. Jenga. These are a few of the things that give humans debilitating anxiety.

Robots can’t solve any of these problems for us, but one machine can now brave the angst that is the crumbling tower of wooden blocks: Researchers at MIT report today in Science Robotics that they’ve engineered a robot to teach itself the complex physics of Jenga. This, though, is no game—it’s a big step in the daunting quest to get robots to manipulate objects in the real world.

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In a stark contrast to focusing on the disruptive potential of narrow forms of AI, in this lecture by OxAI, David Wood will be reviewing Artificial General Intelligence on topics including:

• Scenarios in which AGI might arrive within ten years

• What sceptics about AGI tend to get wrong about superintelligence.

Continue reading “OxAI: Why AGI Deserves Immediate Serious Attention” »

SingularityNET lets anyone create, share, and monetize AI services at scale. The world’s decentralized AI network has arrived. Be part of the revolution and get to know us at this event! You will be able to ask questions to SingularityNET’s CEO Dr. Ben Goertzel.

For the first time ever, SingularityNET will be making a tour in the UK visiting the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and Imperial College London. Together with our co-host Eterna Capital, and in collaboration with the Cambridge University Engineering Society, and The Cambridge Guild, we are proud to be visiting the University of Cambridge on the 30th of January to present:

CEO & Dr. Ben Goertzel: How we are building the global AI brain with SingularityNET

Continue reading “Dr. Ben Goertzel: How we are building the global AI brain with SingularityNET” »

Using brain-scanning technology, artificial intelligence, and speech synthesizers, scientists have converted brain patterns into intelligible verbal speech—an advance that could eventually give voice to those without.

It’s a shame Stephen Hawking isn’t alive to see this, as he may have gotten a real kick out of it. The new speech system, developed by researchers at the Neural Acoustic Processing Lab at Columbia University in New York City, is something the late physicist might have benefited from.

‘It’s sort of this beautiful synergy between the human and the machine’

History Made

In a scientific first, Columbia neuroengineers have created a system that translates thought into intelligible, recognizable speech. By monitoring someone’s brain activity, the technology can reconstruct the words a person hears with unprecedented clarity. This breakthrough, which harnesses the power of speech synthesizers and artificial intelligence, could lead to new ways for computers to communicate directly with the brain. It also lays the groundwork for helping people who cannot speak, such as those living with as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or recovering from stroke, regain their ability to communicate with the outside world.