A plan to advance AI by exploring the minds of children

The next big breakthroughs in artificial intelligence may depend on exploring our own minds. So says Josh Tenenbaum, who leads the Computational Cognitive Science lab at MIT and is the head of a major new AI project called the MIT Quest for Intelligence. The project brings computer scientists and engineers together with neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists to explore research that might lead to fundamental progress in artificial intelligence. Tenenbaum outlined the project, and his vision for advancing AI, at EmTech, a conference held at MIT this week by MIT Technology Review. "Imagine we could build a machine that starts off like a baby and learns like a child," he said.