New Project Hopes to Make Independent AI Systems Learn from Each Other

The aim behind a new international project is to develop advanced AI programs that will allow machines to learn gradually over a lifetime and share that input with each other. Scientists are optimistic that the technology will enable machines to reuse data, adapt rapidly to new conditions and work in partnership by sharing data. The project comes under the initiative known as Shared-Experience Lifelong Learning (ShELL), a program financially supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- a U.S. government agency known for some major technological developments in recent history such as the Internet, Siri, the miniaturization of GPS and the computer mouse. It began this month and is being headed by Dr. Andrea Soltoggio of Loughborough's Computer Science department, in partnership with Dr. Soheil Kolouri at Vanderbilt University and Dr. Cong Liu at the University of Texas at Dallas, both in the United States. The idea behind this project is to gain a deep understanding of how and what an AI system learns when dealing with a new task, so that we can exploit task similarities and share information to create fast, reliable, and collaborating learning agents.