Artificial intelligence has gone through some dismal periods, which those in the field gloomily refer to as "AI winters." This is not one of those times; in fact, AI is so hot right now that tech giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, Baidu, and Microsoft are battling for the leading minds in the field. The current excitement about AI stems, in great part, from groundbreaking advances involving what are known as "convolutional neural networks." This machine learning technique promises dramatic improvements in things like computer vision, speech recognition, and natural language processing. You probably have heard of it by its more layperson-friendly name: "Deep Learning." Few people have been more closely associated with Deep Learning than Yann LeCun, 54. Working as a Bell Labs researcher during the late 1980s, LeCun developed the convolutional network technique and showed how it could be used to significantly improve handwriting recognition; many of the checks written in the United States are now processed with his approach. Between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s, when neural networks had fallen out of favor, LeCun was one of a handful of scientists who persevered with them. He became a professor at New York University in 2003, and has since spearheaded many other Deep Learning advances. More recently, Deep Learning and its related fields grew to become one of the most active areas in computer research. Which is one reason that at the end of 2013, LeCun was appointed head of the newly-created Artificial Intelligence Research Lab at Facebook, though he continues with his NYU duties. LeCun was born in France, and retains from his native country a sense of the importance of the role of the "public intellectual." He writes and speaks frequently in his technical areas, of course, but is also not afraid to opine outside his field, including about current events. IEEE Spectrum contributor Lee Gomes spoke with LeCun at his Facebook office in New York City. The following has been edited and condensed for clarity. IEEE Spectrum: We read about Deep Learning in the news a lot these days.

Google recently put up its Boston Dynamics robotics unit up for sale, but that doesn't mean that the company is getting out of the automaton business. A new bipedal robot from Google's Schaft robotics was shown off on Friday at the New Economic Summit conference in Tokyo, Japan on Friday. The small robot is shown walking in a number of situations that can be challenging even for humans, including a sandy beach, a rocky terrain, snow, and a steep, narrow staircase. At one point during the demonstration video (top of page), we even see how the robot handles random, rolling obstacles thrown under its "feet." Spoiler: It handles the surprise instability better than many humans might.

NEW DELHI: Artificial intelligence (AI) or machine intelligence has always been a little scary. We picture evil robots controlling the world and making human beings obsolete or, even worse, using us as energy sources as in the Matrix. The defeat by Google's DeepMind – a computer program – of the world champion in Go, an ancient Chinese board game, has reinforced the apocalyptic vision of machines taking over the world in the popular media. Not that this vision is totally wrong. The more we transfer human skills to the machine, the more obsolescence in the work force.

In the name of education, robots with names like Dry Bones, Grimlock and Ironhide took to the steel and Plexiglas arena erected in the Olathe Northwest High School gym and slammed it out in a battle-to-the-finish competition. At first glance it was all strength, agility and prowess, a Rock'em Sock'em clash. But at closer inspection, this was much more. It was a test of math, science and design smarts. Although a fast, durable bot and a quick-witted operator also played a role.

What was once thought to be good news has turned to bad after the artificial intelligence (AI) as it has been discovered that the system for automated banking has been taking money from customers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Len Meha-Dohler stated that this was a nightmare although they had not involvement with the project. The system called Deep Learning Interface for Accounting – or Delia for short- held the money in a separate account according to Stanford Universities Rob Ott. He was involved and believes the money would have been returned. After the recent event where DeepMinds program beat a chess expert at the game, it was considered that AI was the way forward.

As if fast food couldn't get any faster, a new integration between Slack and Taco Bell is proving the impossible to be quite possible. Last week, the express joint announced a new partnership with the workplace messenger system, which allows taco fans to order menu items by way of an artificial intelligence powered customer service system named TacoBot. You'll be able to ask and even pay for your favorite menu items through Slack, all with via a "witty personality you'd expect from Taco Bell." The latest in a long list of integrations the IM system has introduced in the last several months, this one might be the most delicious, limited as it may be. While the Taco Bell menu available on Slack may not be quite as extensive as the one in the actual fast food restaurant, Lawrence Kim, Taco Bell's director of digital innovation, says this is just the beginning.

The autonomous vessel can travel on the high seas at speeds up to 27 knots for months on end without a single crew member. The 130-foot ACTUV can be remote-controlled, but its primary use is as an autonomous vessel that can operate safely near manned ships and accommodate all weather conditions. No crew means greater safety for potentially dangerous missions like countermining and submarine tracking. ACTUV is now slated for joint testing in open water between DARPA and the Office of Naval Research to determine viable payloads and potential uses for this sub-hunter robot.

Toyota will expand the footprint of its artificial intelligence and robotics research center by adding a third facility in Ann Arbor, Mich. Gill Pratt, CEO of the Toyota Research Institute, made the announcement on Thursday during his keynote speech at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference in San Jose. The Ann Arbor facility will be located near the University of Michigan, where it will fund research in artificial intelligence, robotics, and materials science. Last year, the world's largest automaker said it would invest 1 billion over the next five years in a research center for artificial intelligence to be based in Palo Alto, Calif. The institute aims to bridge the gap between research in AI and robotics in order to bring this technology to market.

By 2020, a quarter of Europeans will be over 60. In their silver age, many would like to stay in their homes and will require care from family or social workers. Unfortunately, the number of caregivers is diminishing year-after-year due to shifting demographics and an increase in working families. This leads to a'care deficit' that poses a major challenge to most European societies. And today's social workers are often hard pressed, wishing they had more time to connect with the people they care for, rather than the minuted dance of tasks that need to be done.

So you know the Bayes rule. How does it relate to machine learning? It can be quite difficult to grasp how the puzzle pieces fit together - we know it took us a while. This article is an introduction we wish we had back then. While we have some grasp on the matter, we're not experts, so the following might contain inaccuracies or even outright errors. Feel free to point them out, either in the comments or privately.