AI and Neuroscience: The virtuous circle

What can the human brain teach us about AI? And what can AI teach us about our own intelligence? These questions underpin a lot of AI research. In this first episode, Hannah meets the DeepMind Neuroscience team to explore these connections and discovers how our brains are like birds’ wings, what training a dog and an AI agent have in common, and why the simplest things for people to do are, paradoxically, often the hardest for machines.
If you have a question or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter (@DeepMind (twitter.com/deepmind?lang=en) using the hashtag #DMpodcast) or email us at podcast@deepmind.com.
Further reading
• BBC: An AI playlist (bbc.co.uk/programmes/topics/Artificial_intelli…)
• Wait But Why: The AI Revolution (waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence…)
• Coursera: AI for everyone (coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone)
• Medium: Machine Learning for Humans (medium.com/machine-learning-for-humans/why-mac…)
• Google Arts & Culture: 25 moments that have defined AI (artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/yQJiFZ3lStANKA)
• Royal Society: What is Machine Learning? (royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/machin…)
• The Algorithm: A weeklyemail newsletter from MIT Tech Review (go.technologyreview.com/newsletters/the-algori…)
• DeepMind blog: neuroscience and AI: a virtuous circle (deepmind.com/blog/article/ai-and-neuroscience-…)
• Nature: Far-sighted birds plan breakfast the evening before (nature.com/news/2007/070219/full/070219-6.html)
Interviewees in this episode: Deepmind CEO and co-founder, Demis Hassabis; Matt Botvinick, Director of Neuroscience Research; research scientists Jess Hamrick and Greg Wayne; and Director of Research, Koray Kavukcuoglu.
Credits:
Presenter: Hannah Fry
Editor: David Prest
Senior Producer: Louisa Field
Producers: Amy Racs, Dan Hardoon
Binaural Sound: Lucinda Mason-Brown
Music composition: Eleni Shaw (with help from Sander Dieleman and WaveNet)
Commissioned by DeepMind

Please leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts if you enjoyed this episode. We always want to hear from our audience whether that's in the form of feedback, new idea or a guest recommendation!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.