It's Never Only a Game!

One of my professors once mentioned that Bayes theorem is the algorithm upon which FIFA 2015, one of the most popular football (soccer to our US readers) games was developed.
So I did a little research and discovered there is a truckload of games that are AI based.

Interestingly, there are online platforms set up strictly for AI game competitions like the StarCraft AI Competition hosted by the university of Alberta.
The field of AI in gaming is not restricted to the design of the game itself as a lot of complex interactions achieved within many games are only different combinations of algorithmic calculations.




There are also www platforms with instructions on how to develop algorithm-based games for interested game developers.
Check these cool resources out, you just might be the next big game developer; with the help of algorithms of course!

Step up your game: How is Netflix doing it?

As part of their strategy to optimize (and maximize) their subscriber base, Netflix now also knows when viewers got “hooked”with a particular series.

The streaming service company launched a study between January and July 2015, with the intention of researching after which episodes viewers were more likely to watch the entire season of a determined show. In case you were wondering, it is not the pilot.

Netflix’s methodology consisted in finding that episode after which 70% or more of the viewers went on to complete, at least, the first season of the show. Data was analyzed for 25 shows (Netflix originals and others aired in regular TV networks) in 16 countries (Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US), and even though specific episodes were identified for all the series in the study, Netflix did not disclose information about their findings on what makes a “hook episode”. Another finding was that, releasing all season episodes at once and being able to stream them without commercial interruptions, creates “fans” more rapidly than under the conventional TV system.

Here’s the full list of results:

1. Arrow, Episode 8
2. Bates Motel, Episode  2
3. Better Call Saul, Episode 4
4. Bloodline, Episode 4
5. BoJack Horseman, Episode 5
6. Breaking Bad, Episode 2
7. Daredevil, Episode 5
8. Dexter, Episode 3
9. Gossip Girl, Episode 3
10. Grace & Frankie, Episode 4
11. How I Met Your Mother, Episode 8
12. House of Cards, Episode 3
13. Mad Men, Episode 6
14. Marco Polo, Episode 3
15. Orange is the New Black, Episode 3
16. Once Upon a Time, Episode 6
17. Pretty Little Liars, Episode 4
18. Scandal, Episode 2
19. Sense8, Episode 3
20. Sons of Anarchy, Episode 2
21. Suits, Episode 2
22. The Blacklist, Episode 6
23. The Killing, Episode 2
24. The Walking Dead, Episode 2
25. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Episode 4

Now, just seat back and enjoy your favorite show!

Me, My Family and Jibo!!!!!

Dear Reader,

Are you a star wars fan? Have you ever wondered if you could have your own R2D2? Today I'm going to tell you about a product that can be anything you want it to be, a camera, a mail reader, a task reminder....a friend. Here's introducing to you Jibo.
Jibo is your social robot that can even substitute your smartphone. How cool is that? Need to check the tasks for the day? Ask Jibo...Need someone to tell you a joke? Ask Jibo!!!! Have you ever been in those situations where you wanted to take a pic with your family (not a selfie) and no one was around???? ASK JIBO!!!! This cool product is not out in the market, but it definitely gives you a glimpse of the future. AI for the win!!!!!!!

Paris Attacks: A reminder of A.I. in War

First - a brief moment of silence for all the acts of violence occurring in the world.

Second - to focus on a close neighbor.  I was sifting through the massive WhatsApp messages when I learned of the Paris attacks and immediately began to send texts to those I know or friends who have family and friends in the area.   Similar to the scary recall I have from the morning of 9/11 (walking to school that morning and consoling a friend who was balling her eyes out because her mother couldn't get a hold of her father who had flown to New York the previous day and was supposed to be near the towers), terrorist attacks and acts of war will remain on our minds for months and years to come.

How does A.I. fit in?  Drone airstrikes by allies targeting the ISIS situation ensue.  Just last month a self-piloting Black Hawk helicopter was unaided by humans and completed a successful, safe landing for tether-attached cargo.  By the way, this was a Lockheed acquisition.

This past August saw a letter by thousands of scientists calling for a ban on lethal weapons controlled by A.I. machines, stating specifically, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is—practically if not legally—feasible within years not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”

This just in: even Google has skin in the military robot game (not surprising since their self-driving car got pulled over for driving too slow).

Just because we can, does this mean we should? Will humanity fight war one day with machines rather than human lives, or would AI in war reduce the total number of lives lost due to violence?  Or will it increase the number of lives lost overall, with less humans IN the machines but more dying because of them? How do we protect the tech from falling into the wrong hands - which, if history has proven *anything* at all - is impossible?

To all the wanna-be rappers out there... Raporythm is coming!

Finally also I have the chance to become a famous rap star. I always dreamed of it but besides being a bit singer the lyrics was a huge challenge for me. But now there is the solution...

A team of brave Finnish researchers from Aalto University in Helsinki (I actually lived very close to the university last year), developed an algorithm that generates rap texts. The algorithm uses a database of existing song texts with 641,000 lines and 12,500 songs and combines the lines to completely new songs. Obviously, DeepBeat (how the algorithm is called) still has some bugs such as text combinations that don't make sense at all. However, considering the quality of many wanna-be rappers today, the algorithm already produces better results than some of them. Besides the lack of talent, there are several other reasons why they shouldn't be a rap star but anyway at least they can create technically good text now. #betterthannothing

Dream come true #1: The fast and the ....random dude...

Ok, we must say that this is the COOLEST TOY EVER, there is no way you cannot be excited about this. Let me build some expectation for those that don't know this toy...

Everybody loves Mario Kart, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo and other racing simulators that you actually can play at your super comfy couch. On the other hand, there is nothing like driving your own car, listening music and enjoying yourself and your friends. Another option is going to the arcade and play an actual and very sophisticated simulator; all of the options are pretty fun, but this is AWESOME.

There is this company called Wowee offering AI operated miniature cars, which you can actually race against; or if you are into "violent" racing, you might fight against it. Of course you would be driving a car yourself, and actually get a real hardcore Mario Kart live experience.

Dont believe me? Just visit Wowee Website and find about it yourself. Please let me know as soon as you buy yours so I can join and have an awesome evening...

Shhh…Don’t touch me, the TV is watching!

AI is becoming so “boring” that new frontiers are being tested each day.

Not satisfied with AI in everyday items such as lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, smartphones, check-scanning machines, sex robots, self-regulating heat radiators, wrist watches and services such as investing, dating, self-driving cars, image editing, music and movie selection etc., Samsung has built AI in a different form into some of its latest TVs!

This TV not only has the basic AI that has been previously built into other TVs but also has the capacity to capture real time information when plugged in (the captured information can also be transmitted to a third party if spoken words are judged to include personal and sensitive information!)

Next time you plug in your TV, be careful with what you do/say as big brother might be watching!!!

Artificial Intelligence comes to our rescue!... For real?

Every time the Google app in my phone reminds me where my car is parked as I exit the mall, I wonder what´s next in the interactions between humans and machines.

Every search I make is influenced by the hundreds of times I have typed a few words in any search engine. On the one hand, Google “knows” when my favorite sports teams are playing and sends me real time score info.  It also knows my favorite TV shows and suggests episode recap articles on the web. Twitter, on the other hand, knows my interests and prompts me to follow a certain type of public figure or discussions based on others I follow.  But the question that baffles me is, how far can this go? 

It was recently announced Apple has bought a small A.I. startup from Cambridge, England calledVoiceIQ, most likely to be used to improve the Siri service on their handheld devices, and perhaps continue developing their user-machine interaction platforms.

In this ultra competitive tech environment we all live in, everyone´s fighting to keep an edge over the rest. Are we getting closer to coexist with intelligent machines in a Terminator-like world?

Fellow readers, “I´ll be back!”

Sit back and enjoy the ride sir!!!! #TheFutureIsNow

Isn't it irritating to drive in heavy traffic? Back in India, you can only drive for a max of 2 minutes (if you're lucky) and you have to brake, even on a Highway!!!!! If you miss your legs day at the gym, just drive in India and I can assure you it'll be a great work out. For all those in pain, for all those who are lazy, Tesla has come out with an autopilot system to let you to sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Tesla Model S is another benchmark in the automotive industry, that integrates are dreams with reality. It even let's you decide the distance you want to maintain between you and the car in front. How cool is that???? Its one of the few examples that show us how AI can change our wold. The future is now people!!!!! See it to believe it.

Spectre: Shittest Bond Movie Ever ? (Oh, + Robots)

As a true spy movie lover I was very excited to see the latest Bond film...until about thirty minutes into the film when I could guess the next words out of all the characters' mouths.  The popularity of the "tent pole" genre has gotten a bit out of hand - give us our witty banter, sophisticated plots, and cutting edge tech Bond back!!


Speaking of the tech, as we are discussing A.I. in this blog the movie makers have kept new tech low in the latest film.  Without giving too much away there is a scene in the film in which the evil villain utilizes a programmed surgical device to make incisions. As robot-assisted surgery becomes more prevalent (as it allows for greater surgical precision, flexibility, and control) it's not a surprise to see it used in the film sphere as a torture device.  Other famous films that utilized robot-assisted surgery include Luke Skywalker's amputated hand repair, iRobot, Terminator Salvation as well as Transformers (no comments on whether this counts or not).

How else do robots fit into our future?  From a surgical perspective, check out these squishy robots from MIT. *Squish, Squish*

Geminoid F: The first of many more to come?

Dear reader,

Have you ever wondered when (not a matter of if, but when) robots will start replacing human beings at their jobs? Well, wonder no more; it has already started!

In the new Japanese disaster film Sayonara, Geminoid F, a robot actress, has one of the main roles in this movie, and it’s credited as a member of the cast. This human-like robot was designed with a remote-controlled rubber face, able to portray human expressions. The “actress” even made an appearance on the red carpet at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival!

Geminoid F was designed by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a robot designer from Osaka University in Japan, with an approximated cost of 100,000 euros.

Sayonara opens in Japan on November 21.

It seems the android revolution is underway!

Next Please?

Do you love movies? I know I do! I still remember how back in the day, some 15 years ago, we used to have VCR's. It consisted of a Cassette which was huge and unmissable. Then there was a revolution in the form of an LD. The LD was like that Huge record that took up so much space, but was super thin as compared to cassettes. To address this size issue, VCD's were introduced, but they were short on memory space, so the next step in the revolution were DVD's.
Technology has changed drastically in the last decade, and we've seen products changing to adapt to wireless and cloud computing platforms. One of the biggest revolutions our generation has seen is Netflix, your one stop shop for one of the most amazing collection of movies and TV shows. Back in the day, I still remember going to the store and choosing which movie I wanted to watch. But Netflix has every movie you need at just a click away.

I still remember the time when I used to complete a movie or a TV show and ask myself, now what? I always wondered if there was ever a solution to this problem. Netflix predictive software uses analytics to provide a solution which never fails to impress. Netflix uses deep neural networks and sparse auto encoders to predict consumer behaviour based on previous consumer patterns. I've used this myself and I can say with confidence that the suggestions provided by Netflix is 95% of the times amazing. Every recommendation I've received from Netflix has been something I have really liked.
It's tools like this that show how AI is influencing are decision making, and for the better. From a time when we had to physically go to a store and choose what we wanted to watch, to a time when sitting at home, you already have a recommendation ready for you after your movie or TV show is over, the world has changed a lot. We're a generation that is a part of this revolution. Join in, and reap the amazing benefits AI has to offer.

A bigger bang for your buck? Let the Algorithm guide you...

I sure don't have any money to invest at the moment being a broke MBA graduate student (we can all relate) but when I start getting some ROI from this degree, my first big investment might just be on AI!

Computerized algorithms are quickly replacing single-stock analysts and investors, making it a little bit easier for speculators with money to make investing decisions.

As with all things ruled by Algorithm, AI is gradually gaining in popularity with an increasing number of financial institutions (30% trade volume on NYSE) using algorithm-based trading models.

For the techies interested in knowing how this works; Generic algorithms are the most commonly used, these are problem solving methods (heuristics) that utilize the concepts of natural selection to determine the best solution to a problem.

GAs are created mathematically using vectors, and parameters for each trading rule are represented with a one-directional vector that can be thought of as a chromosome in genetic terms and the values used in each parameter can be thought of as genes; the Darwin theory of natural selection then kicks in! (Biologists can relate with this process!)

Parameters used include Moving Average Convergence-Divergence, Exponential Moving Average and Stochastics and different values can be established to decide when to trade stocks to grow investment portfolio.

I have my eyes firmly fixed on new developments in this field and I hope the algorithm can be compressed into a mobile app in the nearest future so I can set parameters for trading backed by confidence in the almighty AI.

The moment your cat is chilling on the vacuum cleaner robot!

I unfortunately don't have a cat but I love the videos when cats are chilling on the small vacuum cleaner robots while the robots are doing their job. Something like this

How do those robots work? Of course, with algorithms! There are mainly two types used: reactive and model-based algorithms. Reactive means that they start at one point and go to one direction. When they come upon an obstacle or a wall, they turn around and change the direction. The model-based algorithms work in a different way. In a nut shell, they have like a map of the area they should clean and orientate themselves via this map instead of reacting to obstacles. You can imagine that this is far more efficient. If someone is really interested in the map-building, here is a very technical youtube video.
Whenever I move my next time, I will probably buy one of these little assistants. As long as their cleaning result is appropriate, I do not really see any disadvantage. You save a lot of time for a work most of us hate. Imagine all the stress you are not exposed to. All the negative emotions during cleaning the floor you don't feel. Instead, you can spend a relaxed and pleasant time with your family or your beloved ones. Considering this, buying such a robot seems to be a good investment! :-)

¿Transhumanos: Nuestra propia copia de respaldo?

Estimado lector,

Hace 10 años sonaba descabellada la idea de fabricar un ser humano “artificial con mente propia”. Pues ahora, en nuestro presente, el proyecto de la

Fundación Terasem Movement busca precisamente eso, crear un cuerpo externo donde poder almacenar el contenido de nuestra mente. A esto se le denomina transhumanismo.

Por el momento, Terasem se encuentra trabajando en la  versión del robot humanoide, BINA48, el cual consiste de un busto con cabeza y hombros, desarrollado por Hanson Robotics.

Dejando la polémica de lado, ¿cuáles serían los beneficios de lograr una tecnología con estas características? ¿Seremos capaces de dejar nuestra copia de respaldo a nuestra descendencia?

Saquen ustedes sus propias conclusiones…

Hotshot, de FuegoBot

"Hello, you look very good!"..."Thaaaanks! Oh, what a polite little......robot?"

Isn't it the cutest? This little guy was recently introduced in the CEATEC Japan (Cutting Edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition) held near Tokyo.  RoboHon is the most polite and friendly robot in the market.

This electronic marvel was developed by Sharp electronics, and like all new robots, has diverse and useful features for consumers to enjoy. First of all, is important to point out that the majority are calling it "Smartphone-Robot" and they could not be more wrong. This friendly buddy indeed is able to make a phone call if necessary, but the awesome feature is that he can ask you "why you want to call your exgirlfriend? didn't you break up?" isn't that handy? 

RoboHon's underlying operating system via a tailor-made Android version, according to Sharp, completely fulfilled their expectations mainly because he is even more friendly than expected #truestory. Besides preventing disasters, the robot is able to take pictures, videos and diverse data and display them on voice command through a HD projector attached to its eyes.

It can recognize different faces to acknowledge who is coming by happily raising its arms. Having a sad, lonely day? Don't worry about it, RoboHon can recognize your voice, mood and the longer you talk to him the faster he will get to know you and eventually become your friend or cheer you up with catchy phrases. Not enough? He will jump and dance on request to make his owner happy. That's the kind of robot he is. How cool is that? 


Ok well, he may not be handy and probably won't succeed in many countries, but there is something to it. Sharp somehow managed to create a mini-buddy, which may be "frowned upon" in some cultures, but let's be honest and seriously picture the following: 

You are living alone in a new country, you don't have friends, family, and co-workers are not very warm. TV is boring, the internet won't help and all you want is to talk with someone that actually knows you. Would you think of RoboHon as an alternative? Super weird and #foreveralone; yeah totally. 

Is it?