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WE’RE OFFICIALLY LIVING in the future.
Imagine even 10 years ago, telling people that we’d all be walking around with mini super-computer smartphones in our back pockets, capable of taking amazing quality photos, sorting out our finances, blasting music and playing Candy Crush all at the same time.
Yep, we’ve made it. Artificial intelligence is the next frontier. So what’s going on with these robots then?
2016 marks the year that the EU published a draft report that focused on artificial intelligence – and not only that, but how AI might pose a risk to jobs, security and even “human dignity” and “the survival of the species”. Strong words, eh?
In March of last year, a robot beat the world champion (a human being, to clarify) at the game Go – which is about 10 years ahead of when boffins had predicted this would happen. The computer was designed by Google-owned DeepMind, and it thrashed world champ Lee Sedol 4-1. Go is far more complex than chess and involves very intense maths, but cannot be won with sheer calculations alone – it requires what is discussed as more like … human intuition. Shiver.
Google-owned robotics company Schaft this year unveiled a new bipedal robot. It was announced as a tool to “help society” by carrying heavy loads over uneven terrains. Since being bought by Google, Schaft have withdrawn from any public-facing contracts, shut down their website and generally keep their developments hush-hush. God knows what advancement will come next from these guys.
Yet another AI-related fact linked to Google… Sensing a pattern yet? Ray Kurzweil is Google’s chief futurist, an eccentric man who for decades has been predicting the rise of the world wide web and society-shaping technologies. He’s a proponent of the singularity theory – that moment when man and machines will converge. He’s of the opinion that a robot will pass the Turing Test in the next 15 years. (The Turing Test was developed by Alan Turing in 1950, and basically boils down to AI being able to perfectly mimic human behaviour to the extent that a human would mistake it for a real person.)
It’s not just tech and business that artificial intelligence is creeping into, of course. Get this: a computer programme has been developed to imitate the style of one of the greatest painters of all time, Rembrandt. The Next Rembrandt, as the project is called, analysed Rembrandt’s entire body of work for data on colour, dress, topic, composition, etc, synthesised and then 3D printed a piece in his style, not just a replica. This is data used as we’ve never seen before.
What issue could possibly have united tech uber-giants like Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft except AI? This year, the five companies put aside their various differences and banded together to form the Partnership on AI. The group’s mission is to conduct research and promote best practice in the field, with regular meetings to discuss advancements in artificial intelligence.
Does artificial intelligence push all the right buttons for you? Then perhaps you should take a look at the Higher Diploma in Computing from NCI. The course will teach you the computing fundamentals, complemented with detailed knowledge, problem-solving and specialised technical skills required for designing, developing and deploying software. Find out more and apply here.
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“Big Names”. …. Big Names in their own minds!!!!
Does 2FM train them all to speak with the same voice / accent. It’s like nails on a blackboard.
Radio nova all the way.
@Brian Dunne: 100%
@Brian Dunne: Same playlist since it launched when it asked Metro Newspaper readers to list their favourite rock songs. They have been sticking to that rigidly. You may argue that goes for all the stations, but they inject fresh new songs every week. Radio Nova play the same 2 or 3 songs from about 10 artists
@Jack Burton: I have to agree unfortunately!
@Jack Burton: but that’s obviously what many people like…their ratings are increasing
@Brian Dunne: They do some Powerballads throwback that really hits the spot, they’re not afraid of bringing in the cheese.
@Jack Burton: I love Radio Nova but yes I’ve noticed all Summer it’s the same songs every few days. So many other great 80’s hits, plenty of B-sides not sure why they don’t branch out their playlists more.
There was no collapse in listenership when Tubridy left his radio slot either, all evidence points to high earners at RTE having little or no impact on ratings so salaries are entirely unjustified.
Of course our government doesn’t care and writes them blank cheques regardless.
Big names lol they were so big they were snapped up immediately id say.
Wouldn’t believe a word of it 2fm pure mule
@Brendan Murphy: total muck
@Brendan Murphy: man doesn’t like radio station so believes that nobody else can possibly like it, to the extent that he believes that independent listenership figures are bogus
Plenty of stations much better than that tripe
@Ian Cryan: Spot on .
It’s because those mid-morning until afternoon presenters on Today FM are insufferable….
@Noel Leech: you mean cash machine fm?
@Brian Dunne: oh yeah that’s the one, good man
I’ll stick with Radio Nova. PJ and Jim in the morning and Pat Courtenay for the drive home keep me sane in the traffic.
@Ger Whelan: My only problem with Nova is that they play the same 2 or 3 songs from each artist.
Don’t belive this at all. Pure fiction. Maybe an audit or review of methodology of data collection.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: Can we have an audit or review on the data that leads you to call this fiction??
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: What a silly statement.
2FM is station of wannabes with notions. Full stop.
Just goes to show, clinging onto talent that once worked well or seemed good isn’t necessarily the only option. There’s always a replacement, there’s always a roll of the dice, it may even be from people tuning in to see what the new shows are like, a bounce so to speak.
Just AI presenting now
Who paid for this survey?….enough said!
Not the station it was years ago…
@Mark Gannon: Ah Larry and the Just a minute Quiz , Good times .
Timewarp Ireland on the interweb , no ads , no DJs , music heaven.
‘In spite of stars leaving’ . Should that not be ‘because of stars leaving’?
Lefty station
@Fintan Pox: right fool
@Joe Kelly: change the f to a t in fool!!
According to the far right on venture capitalist Elon Musks X platform, these figures are inflated by AI. lol
The question is who got greased to say RTE 2Fm has seen an increase in listenership figures
Have a spotify playlist for work over 110 hours long.Will never go back to the radio.2 songs then cringey talk by usually 2 to 4 eejits pretending to be having the craic,ads,news,ads,more talk,maybe a song,news,ads,news,ads,ads,ads,ads.
It’s a joke.One Of those things that only reveals itself to be so bad when you step away from it
Honestly who needs the same news spoken word for word every hour TEN times a day.Never again.
How do they know even if we listen @ all have they a bug in our homes or what coz nobody ever came knocking on my door or rang me up just another white wash poll that means nothing when it’s certainly non transparent
@liam ward: https://info.ipsosmrbi.com/jnlr
That’s how.
This proves that “Talent” is a liability.
Callan gained more than when Turdity was presenting! I thought he was “”De Talent!??” More proof the Management Haven’t a Clue! LOL!!!
For a national station, 2FM’s listenership is so poor to start with, anything would be an improvement.
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
It says nothing to me about my life
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play. The Smiths
So it was just the people that left the listeners couldn’t stand then!
Big echoes still rubbish
Mistake in headline. Should be “because of ” instead of “despite”!
JLNR is total nonsense. Not worth the paper it’s written on.
Why does the journal.ie allow some of the conspiracy posts to remain. We complain when Twitter and Instagram don’t take down obvious spam. Many of the postings on this topic with their anti MSM are straight out of the extreme right playbook.
What wavelength is it on.
have your say