UC Science Today

How does designing a voice recognition program like Siri compare to creating artificially intelligent robots? Computer science professor Pieter Abbeel of the University of California, Berkeley says that although both use similar deep learning algorithms, applying them to robots is far more challenging because the task goes beyond passively recognizing the sound of a voice.

"So recognizing a pattern and then making a prediction, is very different than a robot taking an action, which then in turn, results in the world changing around the robot. And then taking an action that changed the world and that, then keeps going, right? So it's very different because for a robot, every action has consequences, whereas if you do something like image recognition or sound recognition, you just kind of output your prediction and then the next request comes in, to recognize something."

Abbeel’s team has developed an algorithm that enables robots to learn on their own without preprogrammed solutions like those in voice recognition programs.

"And learn that all in one learning process while it’s trying things out."

How does designing a voice recognition program like Siri compare to creating artificially intelligent robots? Computer science professor Pieter Abbeel of the University of California, Berkeley says that although both use similar deep learning algorithms, applying them to robots is far more challenging because the task goes beyond passively recognizing the sound of a voice.

"So recognizing a pattern and then making a prediction, is very different than a robot taking an action, which then in turn, results in the world changing around the robot. And then taking an action that changed the world and that, then keeps going, right? So it's very different because for a robot, every action has consequences, whereas if you do something like image recognition or sound recognition, you just kind of output your prediction and then the next request comes in, to recognize something."

Abbeel’s team has developed an algorithm that enables robots to learn on their own without preprogrammed solutions like those in voice recognition programs.

"And learn that all in one learning process while it’s trying things out."

How does designing a voice recognition program like Siri compare to creating artificially intelligent robots? Computer science professor Pieter Abbeel of the University of California, Berkeley says that although both use similar deep learning algorithms, applying them to robots is far more challenging because the task goes beyond passively recognizing the sound of a voice.

"So recognizing a pattern and then making a prediction, is very different than a robot taking an action, which then in turn, results in the world changing around the robot. And then taking an action that changed the world and that, then keeps going, right? So it's very different because for a robot, every action has consequences, whereas if you do something like image recognition or sound recognition, you just kind of output your prediction and then the next request comes in, to recognize something."

Abbeel’s team has developed an algorithm that enables robots to learn on their own without preprogrammed solutions like those in voice recognition programs.

"And learn that all in one learning process while it’s trying things out."

The arrival of the first Americans has been one of the oldest and most debated questions in anthropology. Now, an international study led by the University of California, Berkeley has concluded that the first Americans arrived in a single wave less than 23,000 years ago. Study leader Rasmus Nielsen explains.

"So, we sequenced the genomes of a number of different Native Americans and also ancient DNA, so DNA from ancient individuals, people that have been dead for thousands of years, to try to resolve many of these issues. One of the things we focused on was trying to estimate, what is the date at which Native Americans split off from East Asians and people that now live in the Northeastern Siberia. So when did these two populations have common ancestral populations?"

Nielsen says that the findings confirm the popular theory that the original Americans followed a land bridge between Asia and Alaska during the height of the last Ice Age.

"Everything we see is in accordance with that, that the migrations of the first people into the Americas likely followed that land bridge."

The arrival of the first Americans has been one of the oldest and most debated questions in anthropology. Now, an international study led by the University of California, Berkeley has concluded that the first Americans arrived in a single wave less than 23,000 years ago. Study leader Rasmus Nielsen explains.

"So, we sequenced the genomes of a number of different Native Americans and also ancient DNA, so DNA from ancient individuals, people that have been dead for thousands of years, to try to resolve many of these issues. One of the things we focused on was trying to estimate, what is the date at which Native Americans split off from East Asians and people that now live in the Northeastern Siberia. So when did these two populations have common ancestral populations?"

Nielsen says that the findings confirm the popular theory that the original Americans followed a land bridge between Asia and Alaska during the height of the last Ice Age.

"Everything we see is in accordance with that, that the migrations of the first people into the Americas likely followed that land bridge."

The arrival of the first Americans has been one of the oldest and most debated questions in anthropology. Now, an international study led by the University of California, Berkeley has concluded that the first Americans arrived in a single wave less than 23,000 years ago. Study leader Rasmus Nielsen explains.

"So, we sequenced the genomes of a number of different Native Americans and also ancient DNA, so DNA from ancient individuals, people that have been dead for thousands of years, to try to resolve many of these issues. One of the things we focused on was trying to estimate, what is the date at which Native Americans split off from East Asians and people that now live in the Northeastern Siberia. So when did these two populations have common ancestral populations?"

Nielsen says that the findings confirm the popular theory that the original Americans followed a land bridge between Asia and Alaska during the height of the last Ice Age.

"Everything we see is in accordance with that, that the migrations of the first people into the Americas likely followed that land bridge."

Could altering brain chemistry someday treat mental illnesses like addiction? A new study at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco has found that participants were more willing to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as fairness, after they were given a dopamine-increasing drug called tolcapone. Study leader Andrew Kayser says the findings may help future research on treating diseases like addiction, which can often disrupt an individual’s social relationships.

"Whatever the substance or even whether it’s a behavioral addiction like gambling, people can often, because of the focus on their addiction, whether that’s witting or unwitting, basically, not treat other people like they should be treated. The reason we think about that as having social dysfunction, is that it's a well-known story that as people get deeper and deeper into their addictions that they disrupt their family relationships."

The next step is to understand precisely how tolcapone affects the brain.

"The mechanism, by understanding it, may suggest which patients would benefit and also, importantly, which ones might not."

Could altering brain chemistry someday treat mental illnesses like addiction? A new study at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco has found that participants were more willing to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as fairness, after they were given a dopamine-increasing drug called tolcapone. Study leader Andrew Kayser says the findings may help future research on treating diseases like addiction, which can often disrupt an individual’s social relationships.

"Whatever the substance or even whether it’s a behavioral addiction like gambling, people can often, because of the focus on their addiction, whether that’s witting or unwitting, basically, not treat other people like they should be treated. The reason we think about that as having social dysfunction, is that it's a well-known story that as people get deeper and deeper into their addictions that they disrupt their family relationships."

The next step is to understand precisely how tolcapone affects the brain.

"The mechanism, by understanding it, may suggest which patients would benefit and also, importantly, which ones might not."

Could altering brain chemistry someday treat mental illnesses like addiction? A new study at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco has found that participants were more willing to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as fairness, after they were given a dopamine-increasing drug called tolcapone. Study leader Andrew Kayser says the findings may help future research on treating diseases like addiction, which can often disrupt an individual’s social relationships.

"Whatever the substance or even whether it’s a behavioral addiction like gambling, people can often, because of the focus on their addiction, whether that’s witting or unwitting, basically, not treat other people like they should be treated. The reason we think about that as having social dysfunction, is that it's a well-known story that as people get deeper and deeper into their addictions that they disrupt their family relationships."

The next step is to understand precisely how tolcapone affects the brain.

"The mechanism, by understanding it, may suggest which patients would benefit and also, importantly, which ones might not."

A five million dollar gift will go towards creating a new interdisciplinary center to fight climate change at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla says the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation will be a game-changer.

"This name is very carefully chosen – this is not only understanding the impact of climate change, but also understanding that while some of this change is happening, how do we adapt to this change? So for example, one of the possible outcomes of climate change is going to be sea level rise. Disruption of commerce, disruption of real estate properties, disruption of coastal land. This is where SIO, working with engineering, working with GPS, our new school of global policy and strategy, working with social scientists, physical scientists – all scientists and engineers, social scientists coming together to look at problems in ways that has not happened before."