New Atlas

Science Audio available

Brain implant developed that turns brain signals into synthesized speech

David Nield April 25, 2019

Scientists have developed an implant that interprets signals in the brain and converts them into understandable, synthesized speech. This innovative piece of technology could one day give a voice to people otherwise unable to communicate.

This brain implant works with a neural network to match brain patterns to vocal tract movements

Computers

Meet Dadabots, the AI death metal band playing non-stop on Youtube

Rich Haridy April 22, 2019

Currently live-streaming on YouTube is a non-stop, algorithmically-generated torrent of technical death metal, and regardless of one’s personal musical taste, it’s undeniably an impressive example of machine-driven creativity.

After being trained on the technical death metal of Canadian band Archspire, the algorithm is now ...

Medical Audio available

New AI-assisted ECG offers early heart disease detection

Rich Haridy January 8, 2019

Applying AI to ECG results may help doctors quickly identify patients at risk of heart failure. In a new study, an AI system was able to use ECG data to detect the presence of left ventricular dysfunction, a condition currently only detectable using more expensive and time-consuming imaging tests.

An AI system can effectively detect an early, pre-symptomatic stage of heart disease using simple electrocardiogram ...

Computers Audio available

AI neural network builds new virtual cities by studying real ones

Michael Irving December 3, 2018

To speed up the creation of virtual environments, researchers at Nvidia have taught artificial intelligence systems how to generate and detail new virtual cityscapes, by training neural networks on real video footage.

A Nvidia team has taught a neural network system to generate virtual worlds based on real ...

Computers Audio available

Intel makes homebrew neural net development faster and easier

Paul Ridden November 19, 2018

At its first artificial intelligence developer conference in Beijing, China, last week, Intel unveiled a second generation neural network in USB form, the Neural Compute Stick 2. Designed to level the neural net development playing field, the thumbdrive-sized device is shipping worldwide now.

Intel says that developers can have AI and computer vision application up and running in minutes ...

Robotics

MIT's DON the robot is a master of dexterity

James Holloway September 10, 2018

What if a robot could look at any item, and decide how best to pick it up, and perform tasks with it, all by itself? That's the aim of DON – a new neural network and robotic hand at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Once DON figures out how to pick up one shoe by the tongue, it can do ...

Health & Wellbeing Audio available

Neural network can detect depression in everyday conversation

James Holloway September 6, 2018

In a new paper, researchers at MIT have detailed a neural network capable of detecting depression. Unlike previous methods using machine learning, MIT's neural net doesn't require the subject to answer specific questions – it can make an assessment based on everyday conversation, or even text.

The neural network can detect depression in both text and speech

Medical

Facebook and NYU turn to AI to make MRI scans up to 10 times faster

Rich Haridy August 20, 2018

The NYU School of Medicine's Department of Radiology is joining forces with Facebook's Artificial Intelligence Research group on a project aiming to utilize AI to dramatically speed up the time it takes to complete a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

A joint collaboration between NYU and Facebook hopes to demonstrate results within the year

Computers

3D-printed Deep Learning neural network uses light instead of electrons

Matt Kennedy August 1, 2018

It's a novel idea, using light diffracted through numerous plates instead of electrons. And to some, it might seem a little like replacing a computer with an abacus, but researchers at UCLA have high hopes for their quirky, shiny, speed-of-light artificial neural network.

UCLA researchers have "created a unique all-optical platform to perform machine learning tasks at the speed ...

Robotics

New method improves robots' grasping capabilities

Ben Coxworth June 26, 2018

Robots that pick up and move objects (such as on assembly lines) may be useful, but they're typically only programmed to grasp specific types of objects that are placed in a specific orientation. Now, however, scientists have devised a method of allowing them to be more versatile.

The system allows robots to grasp individual items from a cluttered and moving collection