Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ai

Machine learning filter: How can I make a smart flash card program?

qxntpqbbbqxl — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:39:12 -0800

Machine learning filter: How can I make a smart flash card program? I'm writing a flash card quiz program. It records the user's history as list of triples of the form:

(timestamp, question, correct)

Where "question" is a unique identifier for the question asked and "correct" is boolean---whether or not the user answered correctly.

I want to use this history to predict which question the user is most likely to answer incorrectly, so that my program can focus on questions the user is having trouble with. Specifically, for each question, I want a function that computes the probability that it will be answered correctly if asked at the current time.

Right now I'm using domain-specific heuristics to do this, but surely there's a more principled way. I suspect the time-series aspect of this problem sets it apart from the vaguely-remembered classification techniques I saw in AI class long ago. Something that can be efficiently updated with each new answer would be nice, but is not essential---the data set is small.

What kinds of AI tools can I bring to bear on this? What terms should I even be searching for?

Say termites took over your mind...

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:28:38 -0800

Could an AI zombify another? I write a science fiction from time to time. My latest story is set in a Balkanized America circa 2060. It'll be about 5,000-6,000 words long, and I've got roughly 3500 words so far. My lead character has developed a self-contained termite colony for he hopes will be used by space travelers or in the "Third World" (it produces methane and edible adults). Individual bugs are networked by nanos, controlled by an AI. Figure several thousand member units.

The plot revolves around a chance encounter (in the field, essentially) with another AI-controlled group, an illegal slave force of perhaps twenty, thirty units. I want the termite AI to take over the slave AI. I'm not systems-savvy enough to contrive a convincing way for this to be accomplished. For the sake of the tale, the explanation should be short and sweet, but I don't mind lots of detail for my own edification. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I could say?

Help me program my AI to win a competition!

theiconoclast31 — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:04:54 -0800

Teach me how to program a robot for my upcoming programming competition! I'm looking for tips, tricks, and sources of inspiration to help write an awesome AI. Some details:

I have two days to write the AI. The robot moves and races, and does other things. It's a 1v1 competition. I'm being purposely vague so this doesn't cross the line and become HomeworkFilter. Please tell me if you want more details. I'd really like to read stuff like Iocaine Powder Explained.

How to test a chat bot?

marble — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:08:12 -0800

How would you know a decent chat bot if you found one? I'm wondering what kinds of tricks you would use to figure out it's a bot, and to figure out how (un)sophisticated it was. I recently decided to play around with Perl again, and managed to cobble together a simple irc bot skeleton that I downloaded and somehow got to work. I might try to code up something rudimentary to amuse my daughter or something. I was looking at threads like this one and trying to get an idea of what would be impressive feats, for a chat bot.

I have some ideas myself, such as:

- teaching the bot something then asking about it later
- asking things about its personal history, family, whatnot
- asking it simple math problems

This is just a simple little project I'm playing with that probably won't go anywhere, but I find it intriguing to think about how I would go about trying to solve some of these problems, if I lacked my crippling laziness.

So, how would you probe a bot? What would be the dead giveaways, and what would give you pause / impress you if you saw the bot could handle it?

Help find a book I remember about AI, cellular automata and a 2d alternate universe

jkaczor — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:41:13 -0800

Help me find a book I read as a teenager - computers, AI, alternate universe, 2d world... Occasionally this book comes to mind, but I can never remember the title or author.

It was "purportedly" a non-fiction book, where a researcher in AI/cellular automata makes contact with a "2d" universe and communicates with a creature he encounters, the creature goes on a quest, discovering aspects of his world as he travels.

It was large-format, had screenshots and for some reason I think it may have been a re-interpretation of Gilgamesh or potentially even Flatland - it would have been published in the earlier/mid-80's. I want to get a copy for my kids.

The value of an Arts Institutes diploma.

Snyder — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:42:04 -0800

What do people know about the Art Institutes? Specifically, people who have attended and left or attended and graduated, as well as employers and their opinions of Art Institutes degrees, people who have worked there, or anyone who has any knowledge about such things.

Also, what value is a BA in Fashion Marketing from AI?

Thanks.

Representing a tree in Matlab?

fake — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:16:18 -0800

What is a good way to represent an N-ary tree in Matlab? I am working on a classic AI problem. (Minimax with Alpha-Beta pruning). I need to represent all possible game states in a tree. How would you go about expanding the tree and representing it in some data structure?

"Are you sure you want to answer this question, Dave?"

np312 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:22:43 -0800

I'm looking for examples of sci fi films that focus primarily on a conflict/relationship between a human and a self-aware computer/artificial intelligence (such as HAL in "2001," but NOT the computer in "War Games" because it wasn't self-aware.) I'm more interested in computers or life forces living within the confines of reasonably possible technology, than I am in humanoid robots, techno-aliens, or "Terminator"-type stuff. Please send me all the movies that satisfy the above criteria! Thanks!

Oh, and bonus points if the computer has an end goal that is bad news for humans...

Books that blend Psychology, the human mind, and Artificial Intelligence theory?

tybeet — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:23:17 -0800

Books that blend Psychology, the human mind, and Artificial Intelligence theory? Hey all, I know the metamind is witty and well-read, so maybe I can just ask this as broadly as possible. I'm looking to develop my understanding of artificial intelligence theory through a perspective that integrates psychological considerations and learning/developmental theory as a stepping-stone towards my thesis.

For a while I was looking in the wrong places, reading Kurzweil who despite being an incredible visionary, is not as grounded in theory as he is in pure application/science "fiction". I just started reading Minsky's Society of Mind, and this book is absolutely perfect for what I wanted since it develops a theory of intelligence by applying a kind of computer-science method, while also working through a broader framework that brings in all sorts of concepts from psychology

Has anyone here approached this topic before, and if you have, can you point me towards any other rich resources like this book? Ideally I would like something more recent that tries to tie in neural networks with more recent psychology.

Any ideas? Let me hear 'em!

Forgotten conversation simulator

johngoren — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:16:39 -0800

Does anyone else remember a Gopher-era interactive conversation simulator that used to be online around 1993? Around 1993 I used to log onto some Canadian Gopher site and run this program whose name escapes me. I think it was at the University of Toronto.

It wasn't like "Eliza" or an "Infocom" game, but it was all text, vaguely in the same genre as "Racter," only more subdued. The setting was a classroom that had just let out. Your challenge was to keep a conversation with a simulated woman classmate.

Typically she would get bored, make a polite excuse about having to catch a bus or go somewhere, and terminate the conversation. I wonder if anyone else remembers this or was able to win at it. (No, it wasn't "Galatea" but it sort of had that feeling.)

I want to watch four hours of robots driving around slowly.

Skorgu — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:23:32 -0800

Where can I get an uncut video of the DARPA Urban Challenge event? I recorded a chunk of the live webcast of the Urban Challenge, and I see that there's a highlight reel available, but is there any way for me to get my grubby mitts on the full, live event complete with pretend-its-the-superbowl commentary? Higher quality preferred, but I'm really after completeness.

Is there an easy way to manage extensive amounts of .eps & .ai files (Adobe Illustrator) into a .pdf catalog format?

cheero — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:37:55 -0800

Is there an easy way to manage extensive amounts of .eps & .ai files (Adobe Illustrator) into a .pdf catalog format? I often buy vector pack cds that come with vast amounts of eps/ai files but there is almost always a single .pdf file that has a catalog of all the files in one for easy browsing. Is there a tool that does this automatically?

Looking for London Underground Diagram Resources

Sevenupcan — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:00:08 -0800

I'm looking to create a variation of the London Underground Map/Diagram. Are there any resources ie, tutorials or .ai templates that I can use to give me a head start?

blankerblanking file errors!

kidsleepy — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 06:56:08 -0800

Why are my Adobe Illustrator files coming up blank? I'm having a frustrating error occur more and more frequently when saving files created in Illustrator. For my job, I work on files in Illustrator and Photoshop, and often need to save them as pdf's. Sometimes (not always), when I try to open an .ai file in Photoshop, and whether I open it as pixels, path, smart object, or whatever, it will be blank. If I save it as a pdf, it will show up blank in Adobe Reader. It will still show up if I open it in Illustrator.

Here's the kicker: if I copy and paste my design from a "non-working" file to a different file that DOES show up in all programs, then "save as" a new file, it will work! Why?! How do I make it work ALL the time?

This first started about a month ago, and has happened maybe 5 or 6 times since. Creative Suite CS2, Microsoft Windows 2000. Help me, big green!

Help me understand natural language processing

saraswati — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:39:09 -0800

As a sequel to my last question, I'm looking to dig deeper into HCI. Specifically, I'd like to learn about natural language processing. I'm looking for some good introductory reading material on natural language processing. What I've read so far (some math heavy stuff about Markov chains) has been a bit above my current level of understanding, so I'm turning to the community to recommend the best of the best to get me started. What books or online resources would you, as someone with knowledge in the area, send a person away with to get a solid foundational understanding of current NLP theory?

Should we use save our Illustrator files as .ai, or .eps?

iamkimiam — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:26:03 -0800

Should we use save our Illustrator files as .ai, or .eps? In our design studio we have a mini-debate going about formats for saving our Illustrator logo files. We all use Adobe CS2 and some of us feel that files should be saved as .ai's (reducing file size and allowing previews in Finder) and others feel we should save as .eps' (for maximum version compatibility and complying with industry standards).

I would like to hear other advantages and disadvantages for either or both sides, so that we can gather info and make an informed decision. Thanks AskMeFites!

Neural networks learning how to talk

aubilenon — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:07:22 -0800

I'm looking for a mp3 of a computer learning how to talk. My CS professor played us a clip of a neural network learning how to turn text into speech. It starts out just babbling and eventually figures out stuff like spaces between words and so on. I think it's being trained on another synthesizer, and was working at the phonetic level (rather than outputting PCM data).

I sort of think it might have been a Bell Labs project?

Finding A Genetic Algorithm Fish Video

unreason — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:57:53 -0800

Help me find an old clip on genetic programming AI. A few years ago I saw a fascinating video on genetic programming. Some researchers had created a computer program that acted as a kind of virtual fish tank, and using genetic algorithms evolved creatures that swam in it out of block-like parts. The video was of the various blocky "creatures" swiming, wriggling, and flopping around the virtual world. Does anyone have any information on this video, and a way of getting a copy, if possible? It might have been a SIGGRAPH presentation, but I'm not really sure.

Whare you doing, Dave? I'm calling my lawyer...

Sangermaine — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 15:46:33 -0800

Legal thought and science fiction? I was wondering if there have been papers published, or perhaps even journals or groups devoted to, "science fiction" legal issues. The thought that prompted me to ask this was wondering if we someday somehow make a Wintermute/HAL/Multivac/etc, what sorts of legal rights would it have? Citizenship? Could it claim freedom from its creators under the 13th and 14th amendments? What I'm looking for are studies or papers that look at what legal issues would actually be raised, what could be argued, etc. Kind of like military war games where military planners look at various scenarios, but instead here it's looking at possible legal scenarios. I'm looking for "serious" articles, or at least as serious as they can be when dealing with these issues, rather than just purely narrative stories. Perhaps some student wrote about this in a law review, things like that.

AI and SF

crunchland — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:57:18 -0800

Science Fiction/Artificial Intelligence question for a friend who is looking for publications regarding handheld computing devices, each programmed with a different human personality. The devices interact with one another accordingly (for example, via wireless communications). One device can ask another device a question. If the questioned device has be programmed to be a liar, it will lie in response. If the questioning device has been programmed to be aggressive, it can then threaten the questioned device which can then decide to tell the truth. As another example, one device can be programmed to be promiscuous, and another device can be programmed to be "on the make."

My friend wants to know if anyone recalls reading something like this in a book ... probably SF or Noir literature, or maybe even something about this in Wired. Does it ring anyone's bells?

JpopFilter: C-ute HQ videos sought.

vanoakenfold — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:44:11 -0800

I'm looking for full-length HQ clips of the Jpop videos of °C-ute's PVs, Ookina Ai De Motenashite and Massara Blue Jeans, or any others known. FYI: Lyrics (some with translations) can be found here.

How to say ow

dmo — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 10:25:27 -0800

Let's say I stub my toe. In English, I might say "ow" or "ouch." In Portuguese, "ai." What are (polite) exclamations of pain in other languages? Pronunciation guidance appreciated!

Looking for a moddable game engine

spark — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 05:02:32 -0800

What is the best game/programming engine to create experimental artificial intelligence projects in? I am interested in creating various AI-type experiments in a game engine (such as the unreal2004 engine, or half-life 2's engine). These experiments would consist of things like getting a bot to successfully find a path through a map of which it has no pre-programmed knowledge, basic problem solving etc.

I would like to do this in a game engine rather than real life because I don't have the resources to do it in real life.

Constraints:
* Running windows XP on a reasonably modern computer (can happily play half-life 2 or doom 3 on decent settings), however I would be willing to dual-boot with linux if there's something really good on linux
* Must be free or cheap (e.g. less than about £50 / $100)
* Programming language doesn't really matter as I will have to learn it anyway (I know some medium level PHP but that's it)
* Must be very flexible WRT programming; I am looking to do some complex stuff, not just very basic scripting
* A solution with a more-than-basic physics engine would be a huge bonus (e.g. half-life 2)

What game engine/program would be most suited?

Caricature software

stuart_s — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:08:11 -0800

I'm looking for software that will produce a caricature from a photo. [mi] I'd like the result to be recognizable as me. I'm willing to be generous in judging this criteria. And I'd like the result to look like a sketch and nothing like a photo. The solution can't require artistic sensibility (as in mr. potato head style generators) or technical expertise (as in uncompiled source or complicated photoshop/gimp manipulation) as I have neither. *Photo* *Click* *Caricature* I don't care how it works: gimp, web, windows OS... as long as it's idiot-proof.

The software obviously exists. I can find articles describing various technical improvements. In fact, several people seem to have done it as an undergraduate thesis. I just can't find any actual working software.

I looked at something called udrawface pro which comes up in search results but I can't coax it to draw anything remotely resembling my face. I downloaded the gimp so that I could follow the instructions in a couple sketchification tutorials. Sketchification would be a good first step but my sketches don't come out as well as the sketches in the tutorials and frankly those sketches aren't that great.

Thank you.

AI programming terminology

grumblebee — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 21:20:51 -0800

I'm trying to read O'reilly's "AI for Game Developers," and it's a bit over my head. On page 17, there's an algorithm that moves a preditor towards a pray. There's a constant (or variable?) in the code called _TOL which isn't explained anywhere in the text. What is _TOL? Also, there's a variable (called v) that's defined buy never used. What gives? Here's the code:

void DoLineOfSightChase (void)
{
Vector u, v;
bool left = false;
bool right = false;

u = VRotate(-Preditor.fOrientation, Prey.vPosition - Preditor.vPosition));

u.Normalize();

if (u.x < _tol) left=true;
else if (u.x > _TOL) right = true;

Preditor.setThruster(left,right);
}