What could go wrong when a military AI system knows everything?

Awesome, not awesome.

#Awesome
“Two parallel quests to understand learning — in machines and in our own heads — are converging in a small group of scientists who think that artificial intelligence may hold an answer to the deep-rooted mystery of how our brains learn… If machines and animals do learn in similar ways — still an open question among researchers — figuring out how could simultaneously help neuroscientists unravel the mechanics of knowledge or addiction, and help computer scientists build much more capable AI.” — Alison Snyder, Kaveh Waddell, Reporters Learn More from Axios >

#Not Awesome
“…[F]acial recognition technology is far from perfect and comes with unintended racial and gender biases baked directly into the computer code. The effectiveness of technologies like facial recognition has in the past been vastly overestimated by the local officials tasked with putting them to use. The FBI’s facial recognition systems are reportedly inaccurate in roughly 15% of cases and more often misidentify black people than whites. And Amazon’s facial recognition software misidentified 28 members of Congress as criminals.” — Justin Rohrlich, Reporter Learn More from Quartz >

What we’re reading.

1/ The US government is working on a “human-aided machine-to-machine learning” system that ingests huge volumes of data — ranging from satellite imagery to google searches to pharmaceutical purchases — and uses it for confidential military applications. Learn More from The Verge >

2/ China is making massive investments in AI to improve the country’s education system — a decision that could either “help teachers foster their students’ interests and strength … [or] it could further entrench a global trend toward standardized learning and testing.” Learn More from MIT Technology Review >

3/ As cities all over the US adopt facial recognition technology, the ability to feel a sense of privacy in public settings is coming to an end. Learn More from WIRED >

4/ The same facial recognition software that may lead to wrongful convictions of innocent people may also be keeping young summer campers safe. Learn More from Axios >

5/ AI advancements are slow to be adopted in the medical field because of laws protecting patient data, but one doctor plans to pay patients every time their data are used to break through the legal red tape. Learn More from WIRED >

6/ Machine learning can be used to match new surgeons with seasoned surgeons elsewhere in the world to learn complex surgical techniques from the best in the field. Learn More from Harvard Business Review >

7/ China’s is proven successful at developing AI talent at home, but many of these experts are leaving to work at companies in other countries. Learn More from MIT Technology Review >

Links from the community.

“What’s the difference between statistics and machine learning?” submitted by Samiur Rahman (@samiur1204). Learn More from The Stats Geek >

“Turn your face into a 3D Emoji” submitted by Ashot Gabrelyanov. Learn More from NVIDIA >

“Image AI | Leverage Image Insights via ML | Picaas for Google Shopping Ads” by iKala Picaas. Learn More from Noteworthy >

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What could go wrong when a military AI system knows everything? was originally published in Machine Learnings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.