Category Physics

Why is it that artificial intelligence systems can outperform humans on some visual tasks, like facial recognition, but make egregious errors on others—such as classifying an image of an astronaut as a shovel?

Like the human brain, AI systems rely on strategies for processing and classifying images. And like the human brain, little is known about the precise nature of those processes. Scientists at Brown University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science are making strides in understanding both systems, publishing a recent paper that helps to explain computer vision in a way the researchers say is accessible as well as more useful than previous models.

“Both the human brain and the deep neural networks that power AI systems are referred to as black boxes because we don’t know exa...

Computers possess two remarkable capabilities with respect to images: They can both identify them and generate them anew. Historically, these functions have stood separate, akin to the disparate acts of a chef who is good at creating dishes (generation), and a connoisseur who is good at tasting dishes (recognition).

Yet, one can’t help but wonder: What would it take to orchestrate a harmonious union between these t...

Toshiba Europe and global telecommunications corporation Orange say they have achieved a significant advance in securing network communications from ever-more powerful computer attacks.

Security experts have been warning that a new generation of quantum computers is likely only a few years away from attaining the ability to crack today’s stringent public key encryption codes.

Some experts say quantum computers will be strong enough to crack the widely adopted RSA-2048 encryption standard for secure online transactions within about 15 years. The Cloud Security Alliance had a more dire—and precise—prediction: Encryption safeguards will be overtaken by April 14, 2030...

The novel device could lead to more versatile quantum processors with clearer outputs...