Citizen science projects have a surprising new partner, the computer

Data scientists and citizen science experts partnered with ecologists who often study wildlife populations by deploying camera traps. These camera traps are remote, independent devices, triggered by motion and infrared sensors that provide researchers with images of passing animals. The researchers built skill sets to help computers identify other animals, such as a deer or squirrel, with even fewer images. More details

Pictionary-Playing AI Sketches the Future of Human-Machine Collaborations

As either “guesser” or “drawer,” the Allen Institute’s new AI cooperates with a human player What do the games of chess, Jeopardy!, Go, Texas Hold’em, and StarCraft have in common? In each of these competitive arenas, an AI has resoundingly beat the best human players in the world. These victories are astounding feats of artificial intelligence—yet they’ve become almost humdrum. Another day, another triumph over humans.  At the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2), in Seattle, researchers set out to do something different. Their AllenAI collaborates with a human player in a Pictionary-style drawing and guessing game, which is won through human-AI cooperation.  Want to see for yourself? Go play it. AI2 has just launched a public version of the game, a simplified version of Pictionary that it calls Iconary. The current version of AllenAI has limited abilities—but as it engages with a diverse set of players, with different aptitudes Continue reading Pictionary-Playing AI Sketches the Future of Human-Machine Collaborations