Black-box optimization problems, which are common in many real-world applications, require optimization through input-output interactions without access to internal workings. This often leads to significant computational resources being consumed for simulations. Bayesian Optimization (BO) and Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Algorithm (SAEA) are two widely used gradient-free optimization techniques employed to address such challenges. Both approaches follow a similar iterative procedure that relies on surrogate models to guide the search process. This paper aims to elucidate the similarities and differences in the utilization of model uncertainty between these two methods, as well as the impact of model inaccuracies on algorithmic performance. A novel model-assisted strategy is introduced, which utilizes unevaluated solutions to generate offspring, leveraging the population-based search capabilities of evolutionary algorithm to enhance the effectiveness of model-assisted optimization. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms mainstream Bayesian optimization algorithms in terms of accuracy and efficiency.

In the soft, rolling hills of the Derbyshire dales the grass is clipped to just a few centimetres by gently bleating sheep. For game artist and designer Harry Nesbitt who grew up here, this countryside is in his blood. "There's something there deep in my subconscious," he says. "I always want to tell stories or depict worlds that are close to my heart." Nesbitt's fondness for this terrain is visible the very first time you look at Summerhill, his forthcoming puzzle-adventure game that tasks the player with herding sheep through a bucolic landscape.

The gap between human creativity and artificial intelligence seems to be narrowing. Previous studies have compared AI-generated versus human-written poems and whether people can distinguish between them. Now, a study led by Yoshiyuki Ueda at Kyoto University Institute for the Future of Human and Society, has shown AI's potential in creating literary art such as haiku -- the shortest poetic form in the world -- rivaling that of humans without human help. Ueda's team compared AI-generated haiku without human intervention, also known as human out of the loop, or HOTL, with a contrasting method known as human in the loop, or HITL. The project involved 385 participants, each of whom evaluated 40 haiku poems -- 20 each of HITL and HOTL -- plus 40 composed entirely by professional haiku writers.

Sony Corp. on Wednesday showed off the latest tricks of its signature robotic dog, Aibo, including a new security capability of patrolling inside a house. Teaming up with security company Secom Co. Ltd., the Japanese electronics giant will roll out the new roaming security feature for free in a system software update scheduled for mid-February. Specifically, up to 10 names and faces can be registered on the My Aibo app, and the user's Aibo can then be programmed to walk around predetermined areas in a home or other structure at designated times to check whether any of the registered individuals are present. The user will subsequently receive a report from the Aibo. The patrolling task is the first feature that showcases the Aibo's ability to remember and recognize spaces, said Izumi Kawanishi, Sony's senior vice president in charge of the artificial intelligence robotics business.

A research team centered at Osaka University, in collaboration with RIKEN, has developed a system that can overcome these difficulties by automatically searching for, focusing on, imaging, and tracking single molecules within living cells. The team showed that this approach could analyze hundreds of thousands of single molecules in hundreds of cells in a short period, providing reliable data on the status and dynamics of molecules of interest. For the development of this method, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the team used an artificial intelligence-based system, involving the training of neural networks to learn to focus correctly on a sample and to automatically search for cells, followed by the tracking of single fluorescently labeled molecules with a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope. The team tested this system on a receptor protein called EGFR, which is more or less free to move along the plasma membrane in which it is expressed depending on whether it has undergone a certain modification. Their findings showed that the system could differentiate between modifying and nonmodifying conditions by tracking the movements of single receptors in membranes.

A drone carrying a package sails through the air, touching down to make a delivery right on a customer's doorstep. Inc. wowed the world in 2013 with a video purporting to show what the future of the delivery industry would look like. But are we any closer to that now? The answer seems to be no -- at least in Japan. The nation is set to take a step forward in the sector this year as the government prepares to deregulate aviation rules so delivery firms can use drones in rural areas.

This is the fairy tale opening of Fumito Ueda's heavily anticipated game, 10 years in the making and only the forty-six year old Japanese director's third major work. But then, of course, the first two – Ico and Shadow of Colossus – are legendary. Film director Guillermo del Toro once described them as the medium's sole masterpieces. No wonder anticipation was so high. Like its predecessors, this is the story of young boy – this time, one whose actions are narrated by an elderly man looking back on his former journey.

The Last Guardian is a masterpiece. Not for being the game fans of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus hoped it might become for its seven developmentally fraught years, but because it's so much better than anything I'd imagined possible. Designer-director Fumito Ueda hasn't just crafted a boy's adventure in a Land of Beautiful Things that exemplifies what I love about this medium. In the game, out for Sony's PlayStation 4 Dec. 6, you play as a child who wakes beside an enormous shackled creature in a subterranean lair. The creature's name is Trico, a winged and feathered being that looks a bit like a griffin but without the eagle's beak and a face that's a composite of a cat's, a dog's and rabbit's.

In 1994, long before the celebrated video-game designer Fumito Ueda went to work for Sony, he took part in a competition that the company sponsored for young artists. Having made it through the opening rounds, Ueda, then a recent graduate of the Osaka University of Arts, used the thousand-dollar allowance Sony gave him to create an installation in a shopping complex in Yokohama. He set up a small cage, the kind a pet owner might buy for a parakeet, and filled it with mounds of soil. Then he cut claw marks into the bars and positioned a sign in front of the cage explaining that it was home to a subterranean cat. Whenever a mall-goer approached, Ueda, observing from nearby, would push a button on a remote control, activating a pair of motors that kicked dirt into the onlooker's face.

The video game world is vastly different now than it was in 2007, when Fumito Ueda and his team began working on The Last Guardian. Nintendo dominated the hardware market with the 3DS and Wii, while the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 trailed by millions in console sales. Assassin's Creed, BioShock and Mass Effect debuted, kicking off a fresh round of long-running AAA franchises. Today, we have the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro, and Nintendo is attempting to rebound from slow sales of the Wii U. Day-one patches are normal, pre-order DLC bundles are standard practice, we're on the ninth Assassin's Creed and, sometimes, indie games are indistinguishable from AAA titles. This is the brave new world that Ueda will release The Last Guardian into on December 6th.