In this paper, we adopt constrastive explanations within an end-user application for temporal planning of smart homes. In this application, users have requirements on the execution of appliance tasks, pay for energy according to dynamic energy tariffs, have access to high-capacity battery storage, and are able to sell energy to the grid. The concurrent scheduling of devices makes this a multi-effector planning problem, while the dynamic tariffs yield costs that are non-stationary (alternatively, costs that are stationary but depend on exogenous events). These characteristics are such that the planning problems are generally not supported by existing PDDL-based planners, so we instead design a custom domain-dependent planner that scales to reasonable appliance numbers and time horizons. We conduct a controlled user study with 128 participants using an online crowd-sourcing platform based on two user stories. Our results indicate that users provided with contrastive questions and explanations have higher levels of satisfaction, tend to gain improved understanding, and rate the helpfulness more favourably with the recommended AI schedule compared to those without access to these features.

Visual illusions remind us that we are not passive decoders of reality but active interpreters. Our eyes capture information from the environment, but our brain can play tricks on us. Perception doesn't always match reality. Scientists have used illusions for decades to explore the psychological and cognitive processes that underlie human visual perception. More recently, evidence is emerging that suggests many animals, like us, can perceive and create a range of visual illusions.

Tristan covers human-centric artificial intelligence advances, quantum computing, STEM, Spiderman, physics, and space stuff. Pronouns: He/hi (show all) Tristan covers human-centric artificial intelligence advances, quantum computing, STEM, Spiderman, physics, and space stuff. The Holy Grail of AI research is called "general artificial intelligence," or GAI. A machine imbued with general intelligence would be capable of performing just about any task a typical adult human could. The opposite of general AI is narrow AI – the kind we have today.

Can you remember what you had for dinner last weekend? That ability is a function of episodic memory, and how well we can recall the time and place of specific events typically declines with age. Cuttlefish also seem to exhibit a form of episodic memory, but unlike with humans, their capability doesn't decrease as they get older, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. "Cuttlefish can remember what they ate, where, and when, and use this to guide their feeding decisions in the future," said coauthor Alexandra Schnell of the University of Cambridge, who conducted the experiments at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

FRANKLIN the cuttlefish considered the juicy prawn meat morsel in front of her. As mouth-watering as it looked, she resisted temptation and waited for her favourite meal to become available – live shrimp. Her self-control is impressive and comparable to what we see in chimpanzees and crows. Self-control is a vital cognitive skill that underpins decision-making and future planning. In humans, these abilities are linked to sentience because they are thought to involve conscious experience.

In an amazing show of self-control, cuttlefish can resist the impulse to eat a morsel of food if it means getting to eat two morsels later on, a new study shows. In experiments, the marine molluscs passed a variation of the'marshmallow test' – originally used in the 1970s to measure a child's ability to delay gratification. In the original Stanford experiment, pre-school kids were given one marshmallow and told they could eat it straight away, or, if they waited 20 minutes, have two marshmallows instead. For this new study, scientists performed a'fishy version' of the legendary experiment using shrimp instead of marshmallows. They found the creatures could wait over two minutes to get their preferred type of shrimp – and that the cuttlefish that could delay gratification the longest were the most intelligent, as determined by a another learning task.

Male bowerbirds in Australia use a technique called forced perspective to make themselves look bigger to potential mates who visit their carefully constructed bowers. Visual illusions remind us that we are not passive decoders of reality but active interpreters. Our eyes capture information from the environment, but our brain can play tricks on us. Perception doesn't always match reality. Scientists have used illusions for decades to explore the psychological and cognitive processes that underlie human visual perception.

The NOAA's Okeanos Explorer wrapped up its mission to investigate the poorly understood waters off the southeast US last week, revealing a stunning glimpse into life thousands of feet beneath the surface. From the adorable wide-eyed'deep sea dumpling' to the ferocious-looking lizardfish, scientists operating a remote vehicle stumbled upon all sorts of beautiful and unusual creatures during the 17 'Windows to the Deep' dives. The mission came to a close on July 2 after more than a month mapping and observing the US Southeast Continental Margin, which stretches from Florida to North Carolina. On July 1, the last day of the dive, the researchers caught a glimpse of the eerie lizardfish at around 1,771 meters (5,810 feet) deep. Dives kicked off on May 22, beginning a two-part ocean exploration mission in the deepwater areas off the southeast, which is said to contain'some of the least explored areas' of the East Coast.