We consider stochastic planning problems that involve multiple objectives such as minimizing task completion time and energy consumption. These problems can be modeled as multi-objective Markov decision processes (MOMDPs), an extension of the widely-used MDP model to handle problems involving multiple value functions. We focus on a subclass of MOMDPs in which the objectives have a {\em relaxed lexicographic structure}, allowing an agent to seek improvement in a lower-priority objective when the impact on a higher-priority objective is within some small given tolerance. We examine the relationship between this class of problems and {\em constrained MDPs}, showing that the latter offer an alternative solution method with strong guarantees. We show empirically that a recently introduced algorithm for MOMDPs may not offer the same strong guarantees, but it does perform well in practice.

The outsourcing industry in the Philippines, which has dethroned India as the country with the most call centres in the world, is worried that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will eat into the $23 billion sector. AI-powered translators could dilute the biggest advantage the Philippines has, the wide use of English, an industry meeting was told this week. Other AI applications could take over process-driven jobs. The Philippines' business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is an economic lifeline for the Southeast Asian nation of 100 million people. It employs about 1.15 million people and, along with remittances from overseas workers, remains one of the top two earners of foreign exchange.

MANILA (Reuters) - The outsourcing industry in the Philippines, which has dethroned India as the country with the most call centers in the world, is worried that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will eat into the $23 billion sector. AI-powered translators could dilute the biggest advantage the Philippines has, the wide use of English, an industry meeting was told this week. Other AI applications could take over process-driven jobs. The Philippines' business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is an economic lifeline for the Southeast Asian nation of 100 million people. It employs about 1.15 million people and, along with remittances from overseas workers, remains one of the top two earners of foreign exchange.

In this position paper we discuss some general properties involved in high-level cognition in situated agents, and sketch an architecture relating sub-symbolic and symbolic information, in which the notion of perceptual inference plays a central role.

We show how judicious normalization of a time-frequency signal allows an elegant and robust implementation of a correlation algorithm. The algorithm uses binary multiplexing instead of analog-analog multiplication. This removes the need for analog storage and analog-multiplication. Simulations show that the resulting algorithm has the same out-of-sample classification performance (-93% correct) as a baseline template-matching algorithm.

We report progress towards our long-term goal of developing low-cost, low-power, lowcomplexity analog-VLSI processors for real-time applications. We propose a neuromorphic architecture for acoustic processing in analog VLSI. The characteristics of the architecture are explored by using simulations and real-world acoustic transients. We use acoustic transients in our experiments because information in the form of acoustic transients pervades the natural world. Insects, birds, and mammals (especially marine mammals) all employ acoustic signals with rich transient structure.

We report progress towards our long-term goal of developing low-cost, low-power, lowcomplexity analog-VLSI processors for real-time applications. We propose a neuromorphic architecture for acoustic processing in analog VLSI. The characteristics of the architecture are explored by using simulations and real-world acoustic transients. We use acoustic transients in our experiments because information in the form of acoustic transients pervades the natural world. Insects, birds, and mammals (especially marine mammals) all employ acoustic signals with rich transient structure.