Tag Archive for: Math

Hashtag Trending Nov.24- AI brings massive internet traffic; Big Box retailers give up on self checkout; Altman dismissed because AI could do math?


AI has resulted in a massive traffic surge on the internet. Big Box retailers are backing away from self check-out. And did Sam Altman get fired because AI could do simple math?

 

These and more top tech stories on Hashtag Trending

I’m your host Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada and Tech News Day in the US.

Dozens of news outlets have reported that OpenAI was reportedly working on an advanced artificial intelligence model, called Q* or “Q-Star in OpenAI documents,” which raised significant safety concerns among its researchers. This model, capable of solving relatively simple math problems, represents a notable advancement in AI development. 

Why? It sounds ridiculous. After all, computers can do math. Yes they can, but we forget that every instruction that makes that work is programmed in by a human.  

We’re talking about a computer intelligence that can reason through mathematical problems where the methods are not pre-programmed. This is, for many, early evidence of a machine intelligence that can learn by itself without the need for human intervention. 

Andrew Rogoyski of the University of Surrey’s Institute for People-Centred AI commented on the significance of a large language model (LLM) capable of solving mathematical problems, calling it a major step forward in AI’s analytical capabilities.

Altman himself has hinted at this in a Wall Street Journal interview where he said that it was possible that in the future, AI wouldn’t require massive amounts of data from the internet and other sources. Some have taken this to mean that OpenAI had developed a way for AI to not only learn, but to actually teach other models by creating virtual data. 

This would be a massive breakthrough.  

Which is why there are stories about researchers at OpenAI being alarmed by Q*’s capabilities that they wrote to the board of directors, warning that it could pose a threat to humanity.

Some are speculating that it was these developments that led to the general panic and the dismissal of CEO Sam Altman. 

All this has reignited discussions on the pace at which companies like OpenAI are advancing toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), a level of AI that can perform…

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Israeli, Hungarian, awarded ‘math Nobel’ for computer security achievements


OSLO, Norway — The Abel Prize, which honors achievements in mathematics, was awarded to Israeli Avi Wigderson and Hungarian Laszlo Lovasz for their contributions to computer security, the Norwegian Academy of Science said.

The pair were honored “for their foundational contributions to theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, and their leading role in shaping them into central fields of modern mathematics,” the jury said last week.

Avi Wigderson, 64, a researcher at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, has widened and deepened the understanding of “complexity theory.”

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His research has led to advances in internet cryptography and serves as the basis for the technology powering crypto-currencies such as bitcoin.

In a short interview with the Abel Prize organization, Wigderson said: “I was very happy to hear it, I was somewhat surprised, and of course, I felt very honored.”

Talking about his field of research, computational complexity theory, which he describes as revolutionizing technology and science, Wigderson said: “Algorithms and computation take place not just in computers or between computer systems but actually everywhere in nature, in atoms, in matter, friends in Facebook, prices in an economy bacteria in a cell, and neurons in the brain.”

“Understanding and developing theories for these major scientific questions require understanding the computations in these systems, the resources they take,” he said.

Laszlo Lovasz gives an interview on March 17, 2021 (YouTube)

Lovasz, 73, who is affiliated with the Alfred-Renyi Institute of Mathematics and Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, is credited with establishing a connection between discrete mathematics, such as the theory of networks, and computer science.

Together with Dutch brothers Arjen and Hendrik Lenstra, Lovasz developed the LLL algorithm, which has applications in areas such as number theory, cryptography and…

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USD Math Department Receives $4.5 Million Award from the U.S. Department of Defense, Could Be Largest Award to USD with Grant Extension


By: Nicholas Stineman

Dr. Michael Shulman, associate professor of mathematics at the University of San Diego College of Arts and Sciences, has received a $4.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

The grant, which supports the work of Dr. Shulman and his research collaborators across the country, will extend over three years, with a $1.5 million allotment in the first year.  The DOD can fund the entire program by extending the research for another two years, which would result in a total of $7.5 million in grant funding; this would be the largest grant award in the history of the University of San Diego.

As a part of the grant, Dr. Shulman and his collaborators will be researching the theoretical foundations of computer programming that help mathematicians verify their work by checking mathematical proofs, and therefore, providing confidence in the correctness of a theory.  Not a math or computer person? In simpler terms, the team will be developing formal mathematical systems (“homotopy type theories”) that will assist computers in verifying the correctness of a mathematical proof or a computer program.

According to Dr. Shulman, this sort of formal system is “being used more and more”, including in “real production code”.  Shulman said that this is especially important “in really critical code such as aircraft autopilots”, or “cryptographic software, where you really don’t want there to be a hole for a hacker to get in.”  Given the increasing importance of cyber warfare and cyber defense, research such as this is crucial.

Dr. Shulman’s research team extends across the country, including Professors Steven Awodey and Robert Harper at Carnegie Mellon University, Daniel R. Licata at Wesleyan University, Emily Riehl at Johns Hopkins University, and Kuen-Bang Hou (Favonia) at the University of Minnesota, and their students and postdocs. At USD, the funding will support 13 student fellowships through the life of the project, who will get hands-on experience and the mentorship of Dr. Shulman.

Needless to say, Dr. Shulman’s hard work and dedication has resulted in…

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Aurora camp makes cyber sleuths out of teenage math, computer geeks – Aurora Sentinel


Aurora Sentinel

Aurora camp makes cyber sleuths out of teenage math, computer geeks
Aurora Sentinel
It encourage science and math learning during the summer and gives young science and math lovers a taste of the frontline work done by cyber security experts every day. Rangeview so-called STEM teacher Randy Mills is in charge of the camp and also …

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