Synaptic fantastic
The only example of an information processing system capable of human-level general intelligence that we have (at present) is the human brain itself.
This ‘wetware’ contains about 80 to 100 billion neurons, and about 100 trillion (or 1000 times as many) synapses. With each synapse being a ‘trainable’
Continue Reading Immeasurably better? Non-digital AI and the regulatory challenge
You wake up early to the sound of an alarm that only exists inside your own head, and it is silenced automatically as soon as you’re awake. You get up to shower and the water is already running, at exactly the temperature you like. While drinking your coffee you receive
Continue Reading Regulate your thoughts: the age of brain-machine interfaces and the neural lace is almost here
As AI intersects into ever more areas of everyday life, legislators across the world are increasingly focused on ensuring that intersection does not become unwelcome intrusion. In recent months the EU has taken centre stage with the release of drafts of its proposed EU AI regulation (the “EU Regulation
Continue Reading AI-gatha Christie: What clues does the AI Policy Paper provide about the future for regulation of AI in the UK?
Glimpsing blue whales in your tears
What’s the difference between a teardrop and an ocean? The question might seem ridiculous, but oceans and teardrops have more in common than might first seem the be the case. Both are largely composed of salty water, both have creatures living in them (tiny
Continue Reading Emerging definitions: Capturing the essence of Artificial Intelligence
Days of future past…
There are movies I enjoyed in childhood that strongly date themselves, presenting visions of a possible future on dates that are now in the past. The ultimate example is Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, depicting the arrival of commercial passenger space flight and
Continue Reading 2024: The year that the future arrives
Of the many stories about Steve Jobs at Apple, one that resonates with the authors is his early ‘80s description of computers as a ‘bicycle for the mind’. Jobs had seen a chart showing that many animals were much faster and more efficient moving
Continue Reading Far from an Edge Case: The employee impacts of the Hardware Renaissance
Integration and Integrity
It would take a particular type of pessimist to embark on a new project expecting it to fail completely – but a truly foolish level of optimism not to even consider the possibility of problems, and make sensible provision for how to handle them.
The complexity of
Continue Reading Damaged goods and good damages: What the hardware renaissance means for tech disputes
If I could tell you how you could make your AI system do nearly ten times as much work on the same hardware, would that be worth something to you, eh…?
Transformers – more than meets the eye
So how can we make our AI ten times more efficient? Well,
Continue Reading Definitely not a zero sum game: Sparsity and next generation AI
Thread count
Before we get to the death scene, let’s step back in time…
History tends to focus on the addition of new sources of power, such as water wheels and steam engines, as the transformative aspect of the Industrial Revolution. Arguably, separating the production of goods into distinct tasks,
Continue Reading Serial killers: The massively parallel processors driving the AI and crypto revolutions (fava beans and a nice chianti not required)
“Yeah, but have you seen the Amiga version?”
This part-question, part-taunt characterised many discussions of the latest game releases in the playground as I was growing up. In the UK, home computers rather than videogame consoles dominated. The kids with 8-bit systems like the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464 and
Continue Reading Variety is the spice of life: The hardware renaissance and what it means for your business
