Efficiently routing packages during the holiday season is a complex problem for companies like FedEx, a task often tackled with specialized software, known as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) solvers. Although they break down the problem into smaller parts and use generic algorithms to find solutions, they could still take hours or days to complete.
MIT and…
Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and keynote speaker at MIT’s “Generative AI: Shaping the Future” symposium, warned attendees not to overestimate the capabilities of this emerging AI technology. Generative AI is used to create new material by learning from data they were trained on, with applications in art, creativity, functional coding, language translation and realistic…
While delivering holiday presents may seem straightforward for fictional characters like Santa Claus, for companies like FedEx, the task represents a complex optimization problem. To solve it, these companies usually utilize specialized software known as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) solvers. These solvers break down large optimization problems into smaller pieces, utilizing generic algorithms to identify…
During the "Generative AI: Shaping the Future" symposium held as part of MIT's Generative AI Week, experts discussed the opportunities and risks of generative AI, a type of machine learning that creates realistic outputs such as images, text, and code. The keynote speaker, Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and professor emeritus at MIT, warned against…
Santa Claus delivers presents with the help of magic, but delivering holiday packages isn't quite as simple for companies like FedEx. These businesses often rely on advanced software called mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) solvers to route their deliveries. Yet, while these solvers break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable segments, it can still take…
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) possesses great potential but equally great risks if misused or overestimated, warned Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot, at MIT’s "Generative AI: Shaping the Future" symposium. The event kicked off the university's Generative AI Week on 28 November and attracted hundreds of academia and industry representatives to the institution's Kresge Auditorium. Generative…
The logistics of delivering holiday packages by companies such as FedEx requires specialized software for efficient routing, given the immense complexity of the optimization problem. The software currently in use, known as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) solver, often takes days to arrive at a solution, and even then, the companies have to accept solutions…
At the “Generative AI: Shaping the Future” symposium held on Nov. 28, Rodney Brooks, iRobot co-founder and a keynote speaker, cautioned attendees against overestimating the capabilities of generative AI. Noting that “No one technology has ever surpassed everything else”, Brooks stressed that flippant assumptions about the inferred abilities of generative AI could lead to failure.…
In the age of artificial intelligence, computers can generate "art" using diffusion models. However, this often involves a complex, time-consuming process requiring multiple iterations for the algorithm to perfect the image. MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers have now launched a new technique that simplifies this process into a single step using…
MIT's Generative AI Week began with a symposium on November 28, titled “Generative AI: Shaping the Future”. The keynote speaker was Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and former director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT.
During his address, Brooks cautioned against overestimating the capabilities of generative AI, which forms the basis…
In a keynote address at MIT's Generative AI Week on November 28, iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks highlighted the potential dangers of overestimating the capabilities of generative AI, an emerging technology that supports powerful tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. He urged that while the technology has significant capabilities, the illusion that it can solve…
At the Generative AI: Shaping the Future symposium, Rodney Brooks, keynote speaker and co-founder of iRobot, cautioned against overestimating the capabilities of Generative AI. The technology supports powerful tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, but Brooks argued that no single technology ever exceeds all others. He stressed the importance of responsible development and use…