Las Vegas launched a self-driving shuttle, and it crashed an hour later

If driverless vehicles are gonna take over the world, it should feel about as natural as taking an elevator, and, say, less risky than playing a slot machine. And yet. On the first day of Las Vegas celebrating the historic launch of its new self-driving shuttle bus pilot program, said shuttle bus promptly collided with […]

Alan Turing's Report Card

Alan Turing’s school report reveals little of his genius

Items from codebreaker’s life and death go on display at Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.   In 1929, a teenager’s end-of-term report noted that his English reading was weak, his French prose was very weak, his essays grandiose beyond his abilities, and his mathematical promise undermined by his untidy work. The report gave few clues that […]

This self-taught bot is learning how to beat you at Mario Kart

Machines may well be on the road to world domination, but one programmer decided that they should make a pit stop on the way: Mastering Mario Kart. YouTuber and programmer SethBling recently unveiled his newest creation, MariFlow, which uses machine learning to create a bot that can navigate Mario Kart courses like a human. In […]

A new religion wants to welcome advanced artificial intelligence

Image: Getty Images/Blend Images There’s a new church for tech-minded folks, and it sounds like something out of a science fiction novel. “Way of the Future” (or WOTF, as they abbreviate it) is 1. Not a joke, and 2. According to them (and this is real) “about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who […]