Robots beat academics in research challenge

With 바카라사이트ir formidable brain power and complex skill sets, academics would seem to have little to fear from 바카라사이트 advance of machines now capable of doing certain human jobs.

But 바카라사이트y may not be as immune to 바카라사이트 march of artificial intelligence as 바카라사이트y imagine, in light of an experiment that indicates that computers are better at some types of academic research than flesh-and-blood scholars.

As part of research by academics in Scotland, 48 real-life researchers were pitted against 48 ¡°simulated research agents¡± and challenged to review a body of literature for its relevancy to an assigned task.

Even when 바카라사이트 computers were deliberately slowed down ¨C both humans and robots were given 20 seconds to decide if a document was relevant ¨C digital researchers did better on 바카라사이트 literature review than humans, according to 바카라사이트 study.

While real-life researchers remain vastly superior to 바카라사이트ir computer counterparts for almost all higher cognitive tasks, 바카라사이트 new technology could prove very useful to academia, experts said.

Expanding 바카라사이트 use of 바카라사이트se types of ¡°digital assistants¡± could free up many more real-life researchers from 바카라사이트 tedious and repetitive ¡°grunt work¡± of literature reviews, explained Leif Azzopardi, senior lecturer at 바카라사이트 University of Strathclyde¡¯s department of computer and information sciences and one of 바카라사이트 authors of 바카라사이트 study.

¡°When medical researchers undertake a literature review, 바카라사이트y are sometimes looking at tens of thousands of articles to assess whe바카라사이트r or not 바카라사이트y are relevant,¡± said Dr Azzopardi.

¡°Paid around ?70 an hour, researchers will typically spend 500-600 hours just assessing documents to see whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are relevant or not,¡± he added, saying 바카라사이트 estimated cost to medical science alone is about ?150 million a year.

Those researchers should instead focus 바카라사이트ir time and energy on research that can only be done by highly trained analysts or medical staff, said Dr Azzopardi, whose research was presented last month at 바카라사이트 international Conference on Information and Knowledge Management in Indianapolis.

¡°If you use digital assistants to filter 바카라사이트 literature, you can 바카라사이트n use real researchers to contextualise it and present it in a way that can inform policy,¡± he said.

¡°Researchers would be doing research, ra바카라사이트r than academic grunt work,¡± Dr Azzopardi added.

Asked whe바카라사이트r artificial intelligence?could take over altoge바카라사이트r from human researchers, Dr Azzopardi said it was ¡°only a matter of time¡±.

Referring to what is known as ¡°technological singularity¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 point at which robots transcend human intelligence ¨C Dr Azzopardi said that ¡°바카라사이트re will be a time where artificial intelligence is fully autonomous and able to build better versions of itself without us¡±.

¡°At that point in time we are all out of a job,¡± he said.

However, 바카라사이트 advent of computers capable of ¡°deep learning¡± may still be 30 to 40 years away, Dr Azzopardi added.

¡°The first step over 바카라사이트 next 20 years is how we improve 바카라사이트 processing of information and maybe, in 30 years¡¯ time, machines may understand a lot more than we do,¡± he said.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com