We present a new interface for controlling a navigation robot in novel environments using coordinated gesture and language. We use a TurtleBot3 robot with a LIDAR and a camera, an embodied simulation of what the robot has encountered while exploring, and a cross-platform bridge facilitating generic communication. A human partner can deliver instructions to the robot using spoken English and gestures relative to the simulated environment, to guide the robot through navigation tasks.

Capturing the structure of a data-generating process by means of appropriate inductive biases can help in learning models that generalize well and are robust to changes in the input distribution. While methods that harness spatial and temporal structures find broad application, recent work has demonstrated the potential of models that leverage sparse and modular structure using an ensemble of sparingly interacting modules. In this work, we take a step towards dynamic models that are capable of simultaneously exploiting both modular and spatiotemporal structures. We accomplish this by abstracting the modeled dynamical system as a collection of autonomous but sparsely interacting sub-systems. The sub-systems interact according to a topology that is learned, but also informed by the spatial structure of the underlying real-world system. This results in a class of models that are well suited for modeling the dynamics of systems that only offer local views into their state, along with corresponding spatial locations of those views. On the tasks of video prediction from cropped frames and multi-agent world modeling from partial observations in the challenging Starcraft2 domain, we find our models to be more robust to the number of available views and better capable of generalization to novel tasks without additional training, even when compared against strong baselines that perform equally well or better on the training distribution.

The aim of this work is to develop a fully-distributed algorithmic framework for training graph convolutional networks (GCNs). The proposed method is able to exploit the meaningful relational structure of the input data, which are collected by a set of agents that communicate over a sparse network topology. After formulating the centralized GCN training problem, we first show how to make inference in a distributed scenario where the underlying data graph is split among different agents. Then, we propose a distributed gradient descent procedure to solve the GCN training problem. The resulting model distributes computation along three lines: during inference, during back-propagation, and during optimization. Convergence to stationary solutions of the GCN training problem is also established under mild conditions. Finally, we propose an optimization criterion to design the communication topology between agents in order to match with the graph describing data relationships. A wide set of numerical results validate our proposal. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work combining graph convolutional neural networks with distributed optimization.

We present OtoWorld, an interactive environment in which agents must learn to listen in order to solve navigational tasks. The purpose of OtoWorld is to facilitate reinforcement learning research in computer audition, where agents must learn to listen to the world around them to navigate. OtoWorld is built on three open source libraries: OpenAI Gym for environment and agent interaction, PyRoomAcoustics for ray-tracing and acoustics simulation, and nussl for training deep computer audition models. OtoWorld is the audio analogue of GridWorld, a simple navigation game. OtoWorld can be easily extended to more complex environments and games. To solve one episode of OtoWorld, an agent must move towards each sounding source in the auditory scene and "turn it off". The agent receives no other input than the current sound of the room. The sources are placed randomly within the room and can vary in number. The agent receives a reward for turning off a source. We present preliminary results on the ability of agents to win at OtoWorld. OtoWorld is open-source and available.

Gartner, Inc. identified the top 10 data and analytics (D&A) technology trends for 2020 that can help data and analytics leaders navigate their COVID-19 response and recovery and prepare for a post-pandemic reset. "To innovate their way beyond a post-COVID-19 world, data and analytics leaders require an ever-increasing velocity and scale of analysis in terms of processing and access to succeed in the face of unprecedented market shifts," said Rita Sallam, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. AIBy the end of 2024, 75% of organizations will shift from piloting to operationalizing artificial intelligence (AI), driving a 5 times increase in streaming data and analytics infrastructures. Within the current pandemic context, AI techniques such as machine learning (ML), optimization and natural language processing (NLP) are providing vital insights and predictions about the spread of the virus and the effectiveness and impact of countermeasures.Other smarter AI techniques such as reinforcement learning and distributed learning are creating more adaptable and flexible systems to handle complex business situations; for example, agent-based systems that model and simulate complex systems. Dynamic data stories with more automated and consumerized experiences will replace visual, point-and-click authoring and exploration. As a result, the amount of time users spend using predefined dashboards will decline.

Autonomous and semi-autonomous systems for safety-critical applications require rigorous testing before deployment. Due to the complexity of these systems, formal verification may be impossible and real-world testing may be dangerous during development. Therefore, simulation-based techniques have been developed that treat the system under test as a black box during testing. Safety validation tasks include finding disturbances to the system that cause it to fail (falsification), finding the most-likely failure, and estimating the probability that the system fails. Motivated by the prevalence of safety-critical artificial intelligence, this work provides a survey of state-of-the-art safety validation techniques with a focus on applied algorithms and their modifications for the safety validation problem. We present and discuss algorithms in the domains of optimization, path planning, reinforcement learning, and importance sampling. Problem decomposition techniques are presented to help scale algorithms to large state spaces, and a brief overview of safety-critical applications is given, including autonomous vehicles and aircraft collision avoidance systems. Finally, we present a survey of existing academic and commercially available safety validation tools.

Terms Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Human-Level Artificial Intelligence (HLAI) have been used interchangeably to refer to the Holy Grail of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research, creation of a machine capable of achieving goals in a wide range of environments. However, widespread implicit assumption of equivalence between capabilities of AGI and HLAI appears to be unjustified, as humans are not general intelligences. In this paper, we will prove this distinction.

Multi-function swarms are swarms that solve multiple tasks at once. For example, a quadcopter swarm could be tasked with exploring an area of interest while simultaneously functioning as ad-hoc relays. With this type of multi-function comes the challenge of handling potentially conflicting requirements simultaneously. Using the Quality-Diversity algorithm MAP-elites in combination with a suitable controller structure, a framework for automatic behavior generation in multi-function swarms is proposed. The framework is tested on a scenario with three simultaneous tasks: exploration, communication network creation and geolocation of RF emitters. A repertoire is evolved, consisting of a wide range of controllers, or behavior primitives, with different characteristics and trade-offs in the different tasks. This repertoire would enable the swarm to transition between behavior trade-offs online, according to the situational requirements. Furthermore, the effect of noise on the behavior characteristics in MAP-elites is investigated. A moderate number of re-evaluations is found to increase the robustness while keeping the computational requirements relatively low. A few selected controllers are examined, and the dynamics of transitioning between these controllers are explored. Finally, the study develops a methodology for analyzing the makeup of the resulting controllers. This is done through a parameter variation study where the importance of individual inputs to the swarm controllers is assessed and analyzed.

While it is still unclear if agents with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could ever be built, we can already use mathematical models to investigate potential safety systems for these agents. We present an AGI safety layer that creates a special dedicated input terminal to support the iterative improvement of an AGI agent's utility function. The humans who switched on the agent can use this terminal to close any loopholes that are discovered in the utility function's encoding of agent goals and constraints, to direct the agent towards new goals, or to force the agent to switch itself off. An AGI agent may develop the emergent incentive to manipulate the above utility function improvement process, for example by deceiving, restraining, or even attacking the humans involved. The safety layer will partially, and sometimes fully, suppress this dangerous incentive. The first part of this paper generalizes earlier work on AGI emergency stop buttons. We aim to make the mathematical methods used to construct the layer more accessible, by applying them to an MDP model. We discuss two provable properties of the safety layer, and show ongoing work in mapping it to a Causal Influence Diagram (CID). In the second part, we develop full mathematical proofs, and show that the safety layer creates a type of bureaucratic blindness. We then present the design of a learning agent, a design that wraps the safety layer around either a known machine learning system, or a potential future AGI-level learning system. The resulting agent will satisfy the provable safety properties from the moment it is first switched on. Finally, we show how this agent can be mapped from its model to a real-life implementation. We review the methodological issues involved in this step, and discuss how these are typically resolved.

Generating an investment strategy using advanced deep learning methods in stock markets has recently been a topic of interest. Most existing deep learning methods focus on proposing an optimal model or network architecture by maximizing return. However, these models often fail to consider and adapt to the continuously changing market conditions. In this paper, we propose the Multi-Agent reinforcement learning-based Portfolio management System (MAPS). MAPS is a cooperative system in which each agent is an independent "investor" creating its own portfolio. In the training procedure, each agent is guided to act as diversely as possible while maximizing its own return with a carefully designed loss function. As a result, MAPS as a system ends up with a diversified portfolio. Experiment results with 12 years of US market data show that MAPS outperforms most of the baselines in terms of Sharpe ratio. Furthermore, our results show that adding more agents to our system would allow us to get a higher Sharpe ratio by lowering risk with a more diversified portfolio.