Air Force-backed center to make machine learning more independent, predictable, secure

Artificial intelligence has become so smart and commonplace that most people accept computer-generated restaurant recommendations or movie suggestions without blinking an eye. Underneath the virtual surface, however, much remains mysterious in the realm of machine learning, where systems attempt to mimic the remarkable way humans learn. Machine learning capabilities aren't yet up to the task of handling highly complex, rapidly changing or uncertain environments, and artificial intelligence can easily be tricked by false information from a clever adversary -- critical situations for national defense. In an effort to build the next generation of machine-learning methods to support its needs, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory have awarded $5 million to establish a university center of excellence devoted to efficient and robust machine learning at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The center also includes researchers from the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC).