Bridging the Gap
Overview:
Cognitive Science is the study of human cognition and the nature of intelligence as exhibited by the human brain. AI that attempts to competently interact with humans must be able to learn and master tasks that are fundamental to the nature of cognition – those such as linguistics, visual perception, and proprioception. This episode will focus specifically on how AGI is attempting to overcome the problems presented by open-world scenarios, using neural network modeling and embodied cognition as grounding points for the transition of AI from closed- to open-world environments.
Segment Guests:
Paul Li - Professor Li earned his B.A. in Cognitive Neuroscience at UC Berkeley and completed his graduate studies in Neuroscience at Columbia University. He has written for Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today, and was the Lumosity’s first funding research scientists from 2007 to 2009. He's been an episode consultant for National Geographic Channel's Emmy nominated series Brain Games, and he was a guest lecturer at several universities including Seoul National University, the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Stanford.
Joseph Cruz - Professor Cruz is a Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Williams College. He received his B.A. from Williams in Philosophy and his Doctorate in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from University of Arizona. He's been published in such journals as Philosophy Now and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He specializes in neural network modeling, body cognition, and cognitive development.
Formal Summary - Exposing Artificial Intelligence to the Natural World:
Bridging the Gap is a three-part series that encapsulates the goal of exploring AI and human decision making, as well as the problems with getting AI in an open-world environment. The segments of this series have been broken down into three backgrounds to include theory, policy, and technical. The themes of the series will range across the spectrum to include military, government, economics, and a myriad of sociological effects. The series will place an additional focus on policy, more specifically military policy.
The Bridging the Gap series is hosted by Bryan Bailey who is an incoming Software Engineer at Uber and current Undergraduate student at Williams College. Majoring in Computer Science and French with a Concentration in Cognitive Science, Bailey is also a DI Alpine Ski Racer originally from Idaho. He is primarily concerned with the study of the extended-mind theory of cognitive science as it relates to the study of natural language processing and visual perception. The executive producer of this series is Grace Farley.