Recommended Robot and AI Reads This Week

What’s Going on with Google Robotics?
A good piece about Google’s apparently beleaguered robotics effort from Business Insider. As the piece points out, failure for Google’s “Project Replicant” could have a serious impact on the current robotics boom.

The Hot New Job in Silicon Valley Is Being a Robot’s Assistant
In an insightful story from New Scientist, Aviva Rutkin looks at the way humans will increasingly collaborate—or “assist”—automated systems. Since companies like Google and Facebook already use customer behavior to train their algorithms, aren’t we doing it already?

Toyota Invests $1 Billion in Artificial Intelligence in the U.S.
A new U.S. company will focus on developing autonomous cars, robotic home helpers, and more advanced AI. It demonstrates the upheaval the car industry is going through as well as the massive potential that companies see for new types of robots.

Baidu, the “Chinese Google,” Is Teaching AI to Spot Malware
Baidu isn’t the only company doing this, but it’s still a nice example of how the Chinese company is rapidly finding new commercial applications for the deep learning technology it’s developing.

Artificial Intelligence: Homo Sapiens Will Be Split Into a Handful of Gods and the Rest of Us
A couple of new studies suggest that increased automation will have a far-reaching impact on employment. Writing in the Guardian, Charles Arthur wonders if this will exacerbate social and economic inequality.

Two Pranksters Built a Pizza Rat Robot to Terrify New Yorkers
Not a robot, exactly, but innovative nonetheless.