Jul 21, 2021

In a recent letter, I mentioned some challenges to building AI products. These problems are distinct from the issues that arise in building traditional software. They include unclear technical feasibility and complex product specification.

Neural networks translated a paralyzed man’s brainwaves into conversational phrases. Researchers trained a system to interpret electrical impulses from the brain of a man who had lost the ability to speak 15 years ago, and displayed them as words on a video screen.

Some delivery drivers fired by Amazon contend that the retailer’s automated management system played an unfair role in terminating their employment. Drivers in Amazon Flex, an Uber-like program that enables independent drivers to earn money delivering the company’s packages.

To reconstruct the 3D world behind a set of 2D images, machine learning systems usually require a dedicated neural network for each scene. New research enables a single trained network to generate 3D reconstructions of multiple scenes.

The independent research lab OpenAI wowed technology watchers in 2019 with a robotic hand that solved Rubik’s Cube. Now it has disbanded the team that built it. OpenAI cofounder Wojciech Zaremba revealed that OpenAI shuttered its robotics program last October.

In a recent letter, I mentioned some challenges to building AI products. These problems are distinct from the issues that arise in building traditional software. They include unclear technical feasibility and complex product specification.