This Machine Learning System Thinks About Music Like You Do -- NOVA Next PBS

If you've ever let Spotify DJ your party and then found yourself asking, a half an hour in, "Spotify, what are you thinking?"--well, it actually may be thinking a lot like you. Scientists reported in a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that they've created a machine-learning system that processes sound just like humans, whether it's discerning the meaning of a word or classifying music by genre. It's the first artificial system to mimic the way the brain interprets sounds--and it rivals humans in its accuracy. The research, published today in the journal Neuron, offers a tantalizing new way to study the brain. The researchers' model was based on what's called a deep neural network, a system whose structure is loosely inspired by neurons, or brain cells.