Major AI breakthrough unlocks secrets of human brain

Researchers at Google-owned DeepMind discovered that a recent development in computer science regarding reinforcement learning could be applied to how the brain's dopamine system works. The research, published in the scientific journal Nature, has implications for better understanding mental health, as well as for learning and motivation disorders. It found evidence that something referred to as "distributional reinforcement learning" used in AI algorithms actually mimics the dopamine reward system within the brain. The technique allows the brain to use distribute the probability of future rewards rather than focussing on actions that result in immediate rewards. "We found that dopamine neurons in the brain were each tuned to different levels of pessimism or optimism," the researchers explained in a blog post describing their discovery.