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Harvard Trying to Make Artificial Intelligence More Like the Human Brain

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human brain on white backgroundby Angela Guess

Emily Reynolds recently wrote in Wired, “Harvard University has been awarded $28 million (£19m) to investigate why brains are so much better at learning and retaining information than artificial intelligence. The award, from the Intelligence Advanced Projects Activity (IARPA), could help make AI systems faster, smarter and more like human brains. While many computers have a comparable storage capacity, their ability to recognise patterns and learn information does not match the human brain. But a better understanding of how neurons are connected could help develop more complex artificial intelligence.”

Reynolds goes on, “Most neuroscientists estimate that the ‘storage capacity’ for the human brain ranges between 10 and 100 terabytes, with some evaluations putting the number at close to 2.5 petabytes. In terms of functionality, the human brain has a huge range — data analysis, pattern recognition and an ability to learn and retain information are just a few processes the brain goes through on a daily basis. A human being only need look at a car a few times to recognise one, but an AI system may need to process hundreds or even thousands of samples before it’s able to retain the information. Conversely, while functionality may be more complex and varied, the human brain is unable to process the same volume of data as a computer.”

She continues, “Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Centre for Brain Studies (CBS) and Department of Molecular and Cellular Biologies will work together to record activity inside the visual cortex. This, they hope, will help us understand how neurons are connected to each other with the end goal of creating a more accurate and complex artificial intelligence system. These learnings could allow the creation of the first computer systems that can interpret, analyse and learn information as quickly and successfully as human beings.”

Read more here.

photo credit: Flickr

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