The US media has picked up the Pentagon's idea to intimidate the population with Russian military innovations, in particular, the new unmanned underwater vehicle, Poseidon, which is capable of moving as deep as a kilometer underwater and deliver nuclear payloads. The USA claims that this is a weapon for aggression. Russian experts have repeatedly stated that Poseidon is a counter-strike weapon. Nevertheless, using Poseidon as a cover, the American government says that it's necessary to edge out Russia and China as the main rivals in R&D. They put a premium on artificial intelligence. A special doctrine has even been issued.
Elizaveta Khramtsova has the details.
A computer learned to beat a human in chess long ago, and now it tries to do it in an argument. On Monday, the artificial intelligence Project Debater discussed pre-school subsidies with Harish Natarajan, a champion debater.
“I will demonstrate that pre-school education contributes to a child's development. I will also elaborate on the fact that pre-school education helps schoolchildren succeed.”
This debate was won by the human, despite being over-prepared. Actually, every year the US spends increasingly more on developing artificial intelligence. On Monday, the US President also signed a paper which describes the steps that the country must take to be unmatched in this field. The order sets forth five basic principles. The first one reads: "Federal agencies must prioritize AI investments in their R&D projects." Moreover, America's R&D experts must have more resources for work, meaning making federal data, models, and computing resources more available for them.
Ivan Konovalov, military expert: "The Americans feel that they're lagging behind China in intelligence technologies. And it's true. It's all the more so as China has presented a program for investments into the fundamental field".
The US President's order makes federal agencies establish artificial intelligence regulations. Also, the administration will be responsible for creating a favorable environment to train the relevant workforce. One of the most interesting points of the doctrine is international cooperation in developing AI.
Andrey Manoylo, MSU professor: "It implies only western countries and perhaps Japan. And all these countries will pull their fair weight, but stay away from the development of the key artificial intelligence technologies. That is, the USA will reap all of the benefits".
Despite the declared readiness for international engagement, the USA has lately been quite aggressive towards all foreign technology issues. Huawei's chief financial officer was arrested in Canada on Washington's tip. Another Chinese giant, the ZTE Corporation, was banned from buying components from US companies, accusing the corporation of stealing intellectual property.
The most recent bogeyman is the statement by American intelligence, stating that Russia is creating combat satellites capable of attacking space vehicles. Meanwhile, Russian R&D isn't aimed at countering any foreign state nowadays. For example, Sberbank has launched a neuroscience and human behavior laboratory. The company believes that the research will help business "formulate an emotional connection to the customer."
Andrey Kurpatov, head of the laboratory: "Smart businesses are changing their tactics. Instead of proceeding from what it can offer to the client, it proceeds from their needs. So, we need to understand them, making use of modern knowledge. Our goal is to elicit the genuine needs determined by our brain".
The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology also relies on scientific technologies, including artificial intelligence. The institute is working on digital models of oil fields. Computer-Assisted Teaching will raise the level of solutions, making data analysis far less time-consuming.
Elizaveta Khramtsova, Alyona Voevodenko, Evgeniya Zemtsova for Vesti.
