Both scientists and children make important structural discoveries, yet their computational underpinnings are not well understood. Structure discovery has previously been formalized as probabilistic inference about the right structural form --- where form could be a tree, ring, chain, grid, etc. [Kemp & Tenenbaum (2008). The discovery of structural form. PNAS, 105(3), 10687-10692]. While this approach can learn intuitive organizations, including a tree for animals and a ring for the color circle, it assumes a strong inductive bias that considers only these particular forms, and each form is explicitly provided as initial knowledge. Here we introduce a new computational model of how organizing structure can be discovered, utilizing a broad hypothesis space with a preference for sparse connectivity. Given that the inductive bias is more general, the model's initial knowledge shows little qualitative resemblance to some of the discoveries it supports. As a consequence, the model can also learn complex structures for domains that lack intuitive description, as well as predict human property induction judgments without explicit structural forms. By allowing form to emerge from sparsity, our approach clarifies how both the richness and flexibility of human conceptual organization can coexist.

For the first time, artificial intelligence (AI) may have eclipsed the science that brought it to "life": we now have AI that can converse in a human-like manner, robots designed to look like us, and deep learning machines built specifically to learn, think, and act the way we do. Experts believe that by 2030, machine intelligence will be on par with humans and that by 2045, the capabilities of AI will actually surpass human intelligence. Given the rate of advancement the field has seen and the resources being dedicated towards its continued development, robotics researchers believe we're closer to "thinking" machines than ever before. "It's getting to a point where we might be able to say this thing has a sense of itself, and maybe there is a threshold moment where suddenly this consciousness emerges," mathematician Marcus du Sautoy from the University of Oxford said. "And if we understand these things are having a level of consciousness, we might well have to introduce rights.

Hundreds of millions of dollars can go into the school bus-sized satellites that blast into orbit above Earth and provide services including broadband internet, broadcasting or military surveillance. But if a part breaks or a satellite runs out of fuel, there's no way to send help. Commercial industry and government agencies believe they're getting to close having an answer: robot repairs. The idea is to extend the lives of satellites through on-orbit satellite servicing, in which robotic spacecraft essentially act as the AAA roadside service trucks of space, traveling from satellite to satellite to refuel them and fix problems. On a spring day earlier this year in Greenbelt, Md., 30 companies gathered at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to learn about the technology and view hardware for on-orbit satellite servicing. They ranged from spacecraft makers to purveyors of robot arms and even insurance brokers.

No machine learning algorithm is perfect. Whilst the margin of error might be tiny, any computer which uses such algorithms sometimes makes mistakes. Earlier this month, research conducted by a team of students from MIT showed that Google's neural network could be tricked into misidentifying a 3D printed turtle as a gun. The group used a hacking technique known as an adversarial attack, altering the image that the software received. In other words, an adversarial attack is a smokescreen for computers.

The deadliest animal on Earth, by far, is the mosquito. Millions of people die annually from mosquito-borne illnesses, and many of those diseases can't be cured with drugs. It's best to avoid being bitten in the first place, but this is becoming more difficult as the insects expand their range, migrating north with warming climates. For decades, government agencies and nonprofit organizations have tried to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in developing countries by spraying large areas with insecticides. But that process is expensive, especially as mosquitoes develop resistance to commonly used chemicals. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has begun to look for other mosquito control methods.

An artificial intelligence expert has called for countries to ban so-called "killer robots" before activists' warnings against them become a reality. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots recently released a short film, in which autonomous weapons are used to carry out mass killings with frightening efficiency, while people struggle to work out how to combat them. A United Nations panel discussed the issue last week, but next plans to meet next year. Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of AI at UNSW Sydney, says he's "confident" that killer robots will be banned, but is worried that the decision could take a long time to make. "[The] arms race has happened [and] is happening today," he said at the UN, reports AFP.

Companies are increasingly turning to AI and machine learning solutions to combat cyber threats, but sometimes there is no substitute for the insight that comes with human analysis. Threat intelligence specialist Recorded Future recognizes this and is expanding its platform to give security operations centers access to analyst-originated intelligence to offer relevant expert insights and analysis needed for operational improvements and targeted risk reduction. "To effectively combat the risks of cyber attacks, defenders need intelligence from the widest range of sources in real-time," says Dr Christopher Ahlberg, CEO and co-founder at Recorded Future. "The direct access to analyst insights combined with our open, closed and technical threat intelligence sources provides our customers with the most powerful source of advantage against their adversaries. The breadth of threat intelligence sources we arm customers with is unmatched and puts organizations in the best position possible to defend against threats."

Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section. Good times in the Golden State: We learned Friday that California added 31,700 net jobs in October and the state unemployment rate fell to 4.9% from 5.1% a month earlier. The latest state jobs report follows a strong September, when employers boosted payrolls by a revised 50,300. In October, the leisure and hospitality sector, and the educational and health services sector, saw the largest gains. The Automobile Club of Southern California says this year's Thanksgiving holiday will be the busiest locally since 2007, with 3.87 million residents expected to get away for the long weekend.

In July, China's government issued a sweeping new strategy with a striking aim: draw level with the US in artificial intelligence technology within three years, and become the world leader by 2030. A call for research projects from China's Ministry of Science and Technology posted online last month fills in some detail on the government's plans. And it puts Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia, the leading supplier of silicon for machine-learning projects, in the cross hairs. The Ministry of Science and Technology document lays out 13 "transformative" technology projects where it wants to put government money in coming months, hoping for delivery by 2021. One is to invent new chips to run artificial neural networks, the form of software propelling the AI ambitions of Google and other tech companies.

UK Prime Minister, Theresa May today announced a new £20 million (€22.3 million) fund to help public services use UK expertise in innovative technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Investment in the sector is always welcome and who knows, says Jeremy Cowan, it could take Mrs May's mind off Brexit for a while. Earlier, the Prime Minister met leading digital entrepreneurs and innovators from across the UK, as she announced a series of measures to support the "continued growth and success" of the country's tech sector. There was plenty of talk of being world class and of the Government's "enduring commitment" to this vital industry. The PM and Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond announced a wide-ranging package of support which includes: Mrs May said: "It is absolutely right that this dynamic sector, which makes such an immense contribution to our economic life and to our society, has the full backing of Government. Technology is at the heart of our modern ...