Deep Science: AI cuts, flows, and goes green – TechCrunch

Research in the field of machine learning and AI, now a key technology in practically every industry and company, is far too voluminous for anyone to read it all. This column aims to collect some of the most relevant recent discoveries and papers -- particularly in, but not limited to, artificial intelligence -- and explain why they matter. This week AI applications have been found in several unexpected niches due to its ability to sort through large amounts of data, or alternatively make sensible predictions based on limited evidence. We've seen machine learning models taking on big data sets in biotech and finance, but researchers at ETH Zurich and LMU Munich are applying similar techniques to the data generated by international development aid projects such as disaster relief and housing. The team trained its model on millions of projects (amounting to $2.8 trillion in funding) from the last 20 years, an enormous dataset that is too complex to be manually analyzed in detail.