Researchers teaching computers common sense

Abhinav Gupta stands near a computer cluster used in his research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.[courtesy]

PITTSBURGH, US: Researchers are trying to plant a digital seed for artificial intelligence by letting a massive computer system browse millions of pictures and decide for itself what they all mean.

The system at Carnegie Mellon University is called NEIL, short for Never Ending Image Learning. In mid-July, it began searching the Internet for images 24/7 and, in tiny steps, is deciding for itself how those images relate to each other. The goal is to recreate what we call common sense — the ability to learn things without being specifically taught.