Reinforcement learning, a key Google DeepMind algorithm, could overhaul news recommendation engines and greatly improve users' stickiness. After beating a Go Grandmaster, the algorithm could become the engine of choice for true personalization. My interest for DeepMind goes back to its acquisition by Google, in Jan. 2014, for about half a billion dollars. Later in California, I had conversations with artificial intelligence and deep learning experts; they said Google had in fact captured about half of the world's best A.I. minds, snatching several years of Stanford A.I. classes, and paying top dollar for talent. Acquiring London startup DeepMind was a key move in a strategy aimed at cornering the A.I. field.

Jia Jia (innovation consultant; New York): Reading about Google's AlphaGo crushing world champion Lee Se-dol made me unexpectedly afraid. I'd not given much thought to AI and had assumed that warnings from the likes of Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates was cautionary but no cause for alarm. But knowing how the computer plays is unnerving. After his defeat in the first game, Lee commented of AlphaGo that "It did not play like a human at all." In fact, AlphaGo had made an early mistake but didn't lose its cool as a human would.

This week, a short novel written by an AI program did well in a Japanese literary contest, scientists spotted traces of a possible new particle that could shake the foundations of physics and a team of researchers discovered in the human genome a "nearly intact" genetic blueprint for a 700,000-year-old stowaway virus. A short novel written by a Japanese artificial intelligence software program passed the first screening round for the Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award. "The day a computer wrote a novel," the program wrote near the end of the piece, "the computer, placing priority on the pursuit of its own joy, stopped working for humans." A team of scientists from Tufts University and the University of Michigan Health System has found a "nearly intact" genetic copy of an ancient virus that spliced itself into our DNA. The team doesn't rule out the possibility that it could come alive again.

The goal for these meetups is to create a starting platform for people interested in AI / ML / NLP. Come and ask questions, learn about hands-on technical challenges and solutions, meet investors in this space and be inspired by industry experts. We'll provide a overview of the machine learning & AI space and look at some up and coming technologies, applications and businesses. Don't see it as a talk, rather as ideas for discussion topics...ask questions, interject ideas and get excited!

In the final game of their historic match, Google's artificially intelligent Go-playing computer system has defeated Korean grandmaster Lee Sedol, finishing the best-of-five series with four wins and one loss. The win puts an exclamation point on a significant moment for artificial intelligence. Over the last twenty-five years, machines have beaten the best humans at checkers, chess, Othello, even Jeopardy! But this is the first time a machine has topped the very best at Go--a 2,500-year-old game that's exponentially more complex than chess and requires, at least among humans, an added degree of intuition. Game Five grew into the most exciting of the series, a game balanced on a knife edge. The victory is notable in its own right.

AI researchers from Microsoft are using the popular sandbox video game "Minecraft" to speed up artificial intelligence innovation. The research project, which is currently being conducted at the Microsoft Research facility in New York City, aims to improve what researchers call general artificial intelligence, which is akin to the complex way human beings learn, decide, and resolve problems. Though numerous theoretical studies have been conducted on general artificial intelligence, researchers have been hampered by the lack of practical methods of exploring the technology. "Minecraft," the intellectual property for which was acquired by Microsoft in 2014, provides the perfect setting for artificial intelligence research. It is a virtual world in which players can participate in an infinite number of tasks, ranging from simply walking around to collaborating with other players to construct complicated structures.

Organizations like Insight Data science founded by Jake Klamka is specifically designed for helping PhD's transition into industry. At the other end of the spectrum, aspiring data scientists, who have enough domain expertise and are keen to pursue this art can take umbrage from the example of Clare Corthell who has embarked on a self crafted journey to embrace the art of data science purely on online learning MOOCs. In Fact she has herself come out with a curriculum for data science with the Open Source Data Science Masters--OSDSM- program. These courses can help you to bridge the gap in your learning and practicing the craft. The OSDSM is a collection of open source resources that will help you to acquire skills necessary to be a competent entry level data scientist. You can access the curriculum here . You have to be adept at learning and upgrading on the job and on the fly. Kunal Punera the Co founder / CTO at Bento labs talks about this aspect when he says.. I spent two years at RelateIQ. I worked on building the data mining system from scratch -- and by the time I left I had built most of the data products deployed in RelateIQ.

This is the latest version of a popular drone brand. Right now, there are around 2.5 million drones that regularly fly over American skies, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2020, that number could almost triple, with 7 million drones projected to be active in the skies over our heads, according to a new report) released by the agency today. Of the drones currently buzzing around, they're split between roughly 1.5 million hobbyist drones and 500,000 commercial (the later being flown by companies for moneymaking purposes). But as that number increases, it will shape U.S. aerospace for decades to come.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Earlier this week, Amazon held a secret, invitation-only event for the machine-learning and robotics community. The three-day event, at the Parker Palm Springs resort in California, had hundreds of guests from the business, entertainment, and robotics sectors. Business Insider got photos of the event from one of the attendees. Here's what it was like: