This computer is selecting sound effects for silent videos that seem so real humans can't tell they're fake

MIT researchers have developed a computer system that independently adds realistic sounds to silent videos. Although the technology is nascent, it's a step toward automating sound effects for movies. In a series of videos of drumsticks striking things -- including sidewalks, grass and metal surfaces -- the computer learned to pair a fitting sound effect, such as the sound of a drumstick hitting a piece of wood or of rustling leaves. The findings are an example of the power of deep learning, a type of artificial intelligence whose application is trendy in tech circles. With deep learning, a computer system learns to recognize patterns in huge piles of data and applies what it learns in useful ways.