Artificial intelligence

MIT researchers piloted a new curriculum to teach middle school students about ethics and artificial intelligence at the second annual Mass STEM Week, a statewide event to encourage more young people to explore science, technology, engineering, and math studies and careers.

Bringing artificial intelligence and MIT to middle school classrooms

MIT researchers and collaborators have developed an open-source curriculum to teach young students about ethics and artificial intelligence.

December 30, 2019

In a new study, researchers at MIT and IBM combine three popular text-analysis tools — topic modeling, word embeddings, and optimal transport — to compare thousands of documents per second. Here, they show that their method (left) clusters newsgroup posts by category more tightly than a competing method.

Finding a good read among billions of choices

As natural language processing techniques improve, suggestions are getting speedier and more relevant.

December 20, 2019

A study co-authored by an MIT economist shows that an improved, automated language-translation system significantly boosted commerce on eBay’s website.

When machine learning packs an economic punch

Study: After eBay improved its translation software, international commerce increased sharply.

December 20, 2019

Designed by an MIT team using artificial intelligence, “The [R]evolution of Hip Hop Breakbeat Narratives” is an immersive art installation designed for the forthcoming Universal Hip Hop Museum in New York City.

Exploring hip hop history with art and technology

With its centerpiece exhibit for the forthcoming Universal Hip Hop Museum, an MIT team uses artificial intelligence to explore the rich history of hip hop music.

December 20, 2019

Associate Professor Josh McDermott (left) and graduate student Jenelle Feather generated physically distinct stimuli that are classified identically by models, rather than by humans.

Differences between deep neural networks and human perception

Stimuli that sound or look like gibberish to humans are indistinguishable from naturalistic stimuli to deep networks.

December 12, 2019

Dixia Fan stands in front of the ITT holding some of the structures towed in the tank to study VIVs, which are important for engineering offshore ocean structures like marine drilling risers that connect underwater oil wells to the surface.

Intelligent Towing Tank propels human-robot-computer research

A novel experimental facility integrates automation and active learning, illuminating a path to accelerated scientific discovery.

December 9, 2019

Clockwise from upper left: Asu Ozdaglar, Joel Voldman, Arvind, and Antonio Torralba

Restructuring the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The Institute's largest academic department reorganizes with new leadership as part of the formation of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.

December 5, 2019

An MIT-invented model demonstrates an understanding of some basic “intuitive physics” by registering “surprise” when objects in simulations move in unexpected ways, such as
rolling behind a wall and not reappearing on the other side.

Helping machines perceive some laws of physics

Model registers “surprise” when objects in a scene do something unexpected, which could be used to build smarter AI.

December 2, 2019

Dean Dan Huttenlocher has been working on developing the organizational structure of the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. He answers three questions about building the college and offers a glimpse into the new college headquarters.

3 Questions: Dan Huttenlocher on the formation of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

The inaugural dean shares an update on the process of building a college.

November 26, 2019

"In Event of Moon Disaster" reimagines the story of the first moon landing as if the Apollo 11 astronauts had not been able to return to Earth. It was created to highlight the concern about computer-based misinformation, or "deepfakes."

MIT art installation aims to empower a more discerning public

With “In Event of Moon Disaster,” the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality aims to educate the public on deepfakes with an alternative history of the moon landing.

November 25, 2019