Machines Teaching Each Other Could Be the Biggest Exponential Trend in AI
© igor kisselev / Shutterstock
As machines begin to learn from their environments in new and powerful ways, their development is accelerated by communicating what they learn with each other
During an October 2015 press conference announcing the autopilot feature of the Tesla Model S, which allowed the car to drive semi-autonomously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said each driver would become an “expert trainer” for every Model S. Each car could improve its own autonomous features by learning from its driver, but more significantly, when one Tesla learned from its own driver—that knowledge could then be shared with every other Tesla vehicle.
As Fred Lambert with Electrik reported shortly after, Model S owners noticed how quickly the car’s driverless features were improving. In one example, Teslas were taking incorrect early exits along highways, forcing their owners to manually steer the car along the correct route. After just a few weeks, owners noted the cars were no longer taking premature exits.
“I find it remarkable that it is improving this rapidly,” said one Tesla owner.
Intelligent systems, like those powered by the latest round of machine learning software, aren’t just getting smarter: they’re getting smarter faster. Understanding the rate at which these systems develop can be a particularly challenging part of navigating technological change.
Read more from Singularity Hub here.