A pigeon pecking at buttons in an Iowa lab reached 68 percent accuracy on a task designed to defeat rule-based thinking, and the learning principle behind it turns out to power many of the world’s most advanced AI systems

Most people shoo pigeons off park benches without a second thought. That might change after hearing what a bird pecking buttons in a University of Iowa lab has revealed about the engine powering modern AI. The connection is real, it is sourced, and it is almost impossible to believe until you look at the numbers. ... Read more