AI That Gains Intuition Like a Human Baby:

By definition, “human intuition” seems to denote a barrier between us and artificial intelligence. It’s why we have gut feelings and reflexive — sometimes impulsive — reactions inexplicable by logic, and therefore not simply transferable to computers.

What’s happening?
Scientists taught a deep learning system to learn intuitive physics the same way human babies do.

Why it matters?
This mechanism could be key in bridging the gap between humans and AI, as well as inform future psychology studies about cognition.

By definition, “human intuition” seems to denote a barrier between us and artificial intelligence. It’s why we have gut feelings and reflexive — sometimes impulsive — reactions inexplicable by logic, and therefore not simply transferable to computers. We can hardly parse our own reasoning for instinctive behaviour, so how could we develop algorithms to encode it?

But if we’re to enter a world of lifelike AI, we’re going to need to bridge that gap. We’ll need to figure out how to give robotic systems the power of intuition. And on Monday in the journal Nature, scientists announced they’ve propelled the quest forward.

In collaboration with AI research laboratory Deep Mind in the UK, this team developed an artificial intelligence system that learned “intuitive physics,” that is, a commonsense understanding of how our universe’s mechanics work, just like a human baby.

It’s named Physics Learning Through Auto-encoding and Tracking Objects, or PLATO — undoubtedly a nod to the Greek philosopher famous for his allegory of the cave, a thought experiment that probes the nuanced nature of knowledge and meaning.

“Current artificial intelligence systems pale in their understanding of intuitive physics, in comparison to even very young children,” the study authors wrote in their paper. “Here we address this gap between humans and machines by drawing on the field of developmental psychology.”