Paul Allen Wants to Teach Machines Common Sense

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will donate $125 million to the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence to fund a project to teach computers common sense. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Wednesday announced he would pour another $125 million into the non-profit Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence to fund a project to teach computers common sense. He notes the additional funding should help to underwrite existing research as well as the common sense initiative, called Project Alexandria. Artificial intelligence (AI) "recognizes objects, but can't explain what it sees," says Allen Institute CEO Oren Etzioni. "It can't read a textbook and understand the questions in the back of the book."