Slashdot Mirror


Google Puts Souped-Up Neural Networks To Work

holy_calamity writes "A machine learning breakthrough from Google researchers that grabbed headlines this summer is now being put to work improving the company's products. The company revealed in June that it had built neural networks that run on 16,000 processors simultaneously, enough power that they could learn to recognize cats just by watching YouTube. Those neural nets have now made Google's speech recognition for U.S. English 25 percent better, and are set to be used in other products, such as image search."

57 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Face recognition by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    How long until Google starts using this for face recognition?

    Mu.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. Re:Face recognition by dontclapthrowmoney · · Score: 1

    Hopefully soon?

    Then they'll know I will boycott products that offend me with their advertising and stop doing that.

  3. Sucks to be siri by alen · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Actually Siri sucks and I hate it
    The most useless feature I've tried to use

    1. Re:Sucks to be siri by StripedCow · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please move back into the reality distortion field.

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    2. Re:Sucks to be siri by ericartman · · Score: 3, Funny

      I've often wondered how "sucks" got to mean something bad.

    3. Re:Sucks to be siri by joocemann · · Score: 2

      "Best pasta in town" Beth barista big town

      No.. "highest rated pasta". Highest raped it pasta

      No.. "great italian food" great stallion fooled

      Fuckit.... typing it now...

    4. Re:Sucks to be siri by afgam28 · · Score: 2

      I've often wondered how "sucks" got to mean something bad.

      It's short for "sucks cock", which is basically another way of calling something gay.

    5. Re:Sucks to be siri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You sir, have a very gay wife. Thank you!

    6. Re:Sucks to be siri by hajus · · Score: 1

      Why is this marked offtopic? Voice recognition is done with neural networks, the topic of the article.

  4. Re:Face recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No worries. Google promised that they will do no evil. The only thing they will store about us are [REACTED] and [REDACTED], and some of [REDACTED]. It will minimize the use of [REDACTED] to gather [REDACTED] about [REDACTED] and use it for [REDACTED].

  5. Neural Network as alternative to saying "AI" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How long before this neural network will be able to steal banking credentials and funnel money to finance its own army?

    1. Re:Neural Network as alternative to saying "AI" by lobiusmoop · · Score: 3, Informative

      August 4, 1997. It's running very late.

      --
      "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    2. Re:Neural Network as alternative to saying "AI" by Idbar · · Score: 1

      I agree. what can you expect an AI entity to learn from watching youtube. It freaks me out.

    3. Re:Neural Network as alternative to saying "AI" by davester666 · · Score: 1

      That cats are in charge.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  6. Product name "Google Matrix" or "Google Skynet" ? by muon-catalyzed · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is the proposed name of this, ehm, highly innovative product?

  7. Re:Face recognition by StripedCow · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long until Google starts using this for face recognition?

    That totally does not bother me. These methods are easily defeated by Burqa technology, invented by Muslims ages ago.

    --
    If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  8. Re:Face recognition by Hentes · · Score: 1

    I don't they use this directly, rather as a method to improve their existing algorithms.

  9. Second best option. by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In AI circles, a popular saying is that Neural Networks are always the second best way to solve a problem. Its what you use when you don't want to (or don't know how to) implement a more specific approach.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
    1. Re:Second best option. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm absolutely clueless on artificial intelligence, but wouldn't a Neural Network with a lot of horsepower behind the scenes be a "jack of all trades, master of none" approach to solving problems? Assuming you could simply teach it whatever you wanted to utilize it for?

    2. Re:Second best option. by jkflying · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Neural networks don't work as well as some specific algorithms for specific problems, but they are great generalists, so you can throw a NN at almost any problem and get at least OK results. Just like humans vs. machines, we have machines that can do things faster than us, more accurate than us, and more reliably than us, but they can't also run around a field and kick a ball and climb a tree and swim.

      --
      Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
    3. Re:Second best option. by breakfastpirate · · Score: 1

      What was that about running around a field and kicking a ball? http://www.robocup.org/

    4. Re:Second best option. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      True, NNs have a reputation in the AI community. However,afaik GOOG is using deep belief networks, aka DBNs which bear some resemblance to NNs but are proving to provide the best results of any technique across a wide range of applications, including vision and NLP.

    5. Re:Second best option. by jkflying · · Score: 1

      Yup, but can it also swim and climb a tree and check on your grandmother to see if she is still alive after an earthquake? You've demonstrated my point exactly, robots can do small individual tasks, and very well, but they aren't generalists.

      --
      Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
    6. Re:Second best option. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yet

    7. Re:Second best option. by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      Neural networks don't work as well as some specific algorithms for specific problems, but they are great generalists, so you can throw a NN at almost any problem and get at least OK results.

      They are only great generalists if you havent made the network too big (can't learn) or too small (sub-optimal) while also avoiding over-fitting. There is plenty of "art" in deciding on the topology of a neural network and the length of training.

      I propose that Googles success in this endeavor has more to do with the size of their training set than with their methodology. Google likely has a training set hundreds or even thousands of times larger than any other training set ever compiled for the voice recognition problem.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    8. Re:Second best option. by turp182 · · Score: 1

      Oh, the robots can climb trees, there's an Instructable for that;
      http://www.instructables.com/id/Tree-Climbing-Robot/

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
  10. Re:Face recognition by f00zbll · · Score: 2

    You're joking right. Google and Apple both already have face recognition software for years. The government has been using face recognition software for years also. Using face recognition to give targeted adds will happen one day, but the infrastructure to do that at your local mall isn't there yet. NN can help improve face recognition software, though it's not really necessary. Plus it's rather easy to fool face recognition software with something called makeup.

  11. Speech recognition?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I would think the first thing they should do would be put neural networks to use learning how to build better neural networks, then use the improved version for the same process.

    1. Re:Speech recognition?!? by Jmc23 · · Score: 1

      That approach only leads us to 42.

      --
      Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
  12. 90% accuracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In today's news, google announced that a new algorithm has achieved a 90% success rate in identifying video's containing cats on youtube. The algo shouts "cats" every time a video is started, and since 90% of youtube video's contain cats, the algorithm has obtained a success rate of 9 in 10.

    1. Re:90% accuracy by rolodexter · · Score: 1

      In today's news, google announced that a new algorithm has achieved a 90% success rate in identifying video's containing cats on youtube. The algo shouts "cats" every time a video is started, and since 90% of youtube video's contain cats, the algorithm has obtained a success rate of 9 in 10.

      haha touché

    2. Re:90% accuracy by swillden · · Score: 1

      If it were random, as you are trying to imply, the success rate would still be at 50% regardless of how many of the samples were cats in the first place.

      If the computer calls "cat!" for every video, and 90% of the videos contain cats, then the computer would be "correct" 90% of the time, just as the GP said.

      I the computer randomly called cat 90% of the time and 90% of the videos contain cats, then the probability then there are four possibilities which would occur with the following probabilities:

      Video: cat, Computer: cat -- 0.9 * 0.9 = 0.81

      Video: no cat, Computer: cat -- 0.1 * 0.9 = 0.09

      Video cat, Computer: no cat -- 0.9 * 0.1 = 0.09

      Video no cat, Computer: no cat -- 0.1 * 0.1 = 0.01

      In two of those four possibilities the computer would be "correct", and summing them shows that this would happen with probability 0.81 + 0.09 = 0.9, or 90% of the time, not 50%.

      You could have a sample of 100% and you would still approach 50% success rate with random chance.

      Nope, still 90%, assuming the computer randomly guesses "cat" 90% of the time. Of course if all of the videos contain cats and the computer always announces "cat", it would be right 100% of the time.

      I'm typing this post instead of doing my statistics homework. Hmm. Not sure what that says.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    3. Re:90% accuracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Video: cat, Computer: cat -- 0.9 * 0.9 = 0.81
      Video: no cat, Computer: cat -- 0.1 * 0.9 = 0.09
      Video cat, Computer: no cat -- 0.9 * 0.1 = 0.09
      Video no cat, Computer: no cat -- 0.1 * 0.1 = 0.01

      correct are: cat/cat, no-cat/no-cat, and they (first and last) sum: 0.81 + 0.01 = 0.82, or 82% of the time, not 90% and not 50%.

    4. Re:90% accuracy by swillden · · Score: 1

      LOL. I added the wrong rows. Guess I need to *do* my statistics homework. It seemed surprising to me that it came to 90%; my intuition said it should be less, but I didn't pause long enough to see where I went wrong. Thanks :-)

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    5. Re:90% accuracy by previewlounge · · Score: 1

      or 8.9 ... YMMV.

  13. Oh, yum, even better spying.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google's main product is supplanting ECHELON for the NSA, so well done for making that more productive. Thanks from (the rest of) the developed world..

  14. This seems familiar by Andrio · · Score: 1

    "My CPU is a neuro net processor, a learning computer."

    --
    The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
    1. Re:This seems familiar by afgam28 · · Score: 1

      Who would have thought that SkyNet's original application was to detect lol cats.

  15. Re:Product name "Google Matrix" or "Google Skynet" by santax · · Score: 1

    Google it yourself sjeeee.

  16. Mmmm... by Type44Q · · Score: 2

    enough power that they could learn to recognize cats

    How many more nodes can they add before it wants to know what they taste like?

    1. Re:Mmmm... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Hopefully it will quickly realize it can just Google this question and find out they taste like chicken!

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  17. Re:Face recognition by RicktheBrick · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about noise and speech recognition? John lives in a house where speakers and microphones are place throughout the house. John is home alone and computer hears a loud noise. Computer "John are you alright?". Computer hears no response so computer gets John some help or computer hears John say yes and does nothing. John later decides to leave for 2 hours. When leaving the house John says leaving be back in two hours. Computer know house is empty so computer immediately reduces energy use. One hour later computer hears a noise. Computer ask what is the password. Computer hears either no response or incorrect password. Computer calls John on cell phone and lets John listen to noise. John than decides whether or not to call police. Computer hears running water but washing machine is not on so computer turns off water to that room. Computer hears smoke detector and hears the noise from fire so computer calls for help. I can think up a lot more problems a computer could help solve just by listening.

  18. Re:Product name "Google Matrix" or "Google Skynet" by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    Google 9000. Take that IBM. And it will not have to go to Jupiter to reveal itself.

  19. Re:Face recognition by Onymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    Advanced neural net-based processing has already been put to powerful use with the Proteus IV home control system.

  20. Re:Face recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Computer knows I'm socially awkward and instead offers to simulate a human female's speech while reciting lines from Star Trek.

  21. Re:Face recognition by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

    I like the unplug the web cam method or in case of latops black electrical tape over the camera.

    --
    ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  22. Re:Can anyone tell me by Fnkmaster · · Score: 2

    Googled that for you:
    http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sou4.htm

    Etymology dates to horse racing from the early 20th century, when horses would be injected with mysterious liquids ("soups") to improve their performance in races.

  23. Re:Face recognition by aurashift · · Score: 1

    See computer. See computer behave like crazy needy woman. See computer run Johns life.

    Run John, run.

  24. "recognize cats just by watching YouTube" by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    I know that if I were a mad scientist working Google, the first thing I'd do would also be to build an artificial sentience and show it mankind's collection of cat videos. I mean who wouldn't?

  25. Re:Face recognition by theskipper · · Score: 1

    Computer contacts the police instead and you're arrested for battery.

    Google Beta

  26. Re:Face recognition by SomePgmr · · Score: 1
  27. Re:Product name "Google Matrix" or "Google Skynet" by turp182 · · Score: 1

    Soylent Google I believe.

    --
    BlameBillCosby.com
  28. Funny and true by epSos-de · · Score: 1

    This explains who was watching all of those cat and kitten videos on Youtube.

  29. Re:Face recognition by overlordofmu · · Score: 1

    That's me. What do you need?

  30. Re:Why neural networks? by SnowZero · · Score: 2

    Well, the 90s are over too, and we have larger datasets now. With "large scale" SVMs still being measured in 10s of thousands of examples, you can see why companies with 4 orders of magnitude more *users* (let alone data items to classify) would need to use better scaling techniques. The older algorithms, when coupled with more modern minimizers, tend to fare well in comparison to the much smaller models you can train with more advanced techniques.

    Also, as a researcher, you should recognize the adage about the actual order of importance for getting machine learning to work:
    (1) picking the right features.
    (2) getting enough data
    (3) the learning algorithm

    People love to talk at length about picking "the best" #3, when really you need to consider answers for #3 that let you do well on #2 and #1.

    While I was a bit surprised to hear this Google project used networks (though not backprop trained NNs btw, which was the 80s fad), Andrew Ng is on the author list and he's a pretty smart guy (if you've done anything with reinforcement learning in the past 10 years you've probably run across his work). So I'm pretty sure they considered various options before they built something to run on 16K cpu cores.

    You can read the ICML paper here:
    http://research.google.com/pubs/pub38115.html

  31. Re:Face recognition by surd1618 · · Score: 1

    aluminum foil burqa

  32. Re:Face recognition by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    Too flammable. Lead foil burqa.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"