Artificial turf, replacing natural grass, now spans UCLA’s Intramural Field. … UCLA researchers use artificial intelligence to provide data on …

UCLA collaborated with Amazon to launch a center for artificial intelligence research, education and outreach Oct. 29. The Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence, based at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, aims to address social issues and create positive impacts using artificial intelligence. The three main focuses of the Science Hub are combining research efforts, funding doctoral fellowships and continuing community outreach, as stated on the website. According to the UCLA press release, this is Amazon's first collaboration with a public university. UCLA received $1 million from Amazon to establish the hub this year, and the agreement may be renewed for a maximum of four more years.

Campus Queries is a series in which Daily Bruin readers and staff present science-related questions for UCLA professors and experts to answer. Q: What is artificial intelligence? A: Artificial intelligence is emulating a task on a computer that's easy for a human, said Judea Pearl, a researcher and UCLA computer science professor. Home assistants like Amazon's Alexa talk to their users the way people talk to each other, and many media portrayals of AI, like Skynet from the "Terminator" franchise, depict them as out to dominate humanity. Despite the range of intelligence displayed by AI in the real world and fiction, the larger question of what makes a computer truly intelligent remains.