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Scientists Force Computer To Binge On TV Shows and Predict What Humans Will Do (geekwire.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the Netflix-and-chill dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from GeekWire: Researchers have taught a computer to do a better-than-expected job of predicting what characters on TV shows will do, just by forcing the machine to study 600 hours' worth of YouTube videos. The researchers developed predictive-vision software that uses machine learning to anticipate what actions should follow a given set of video frames. They grabbed thousands of videos showing humans greeting each other, and fed those videos into the algorithm. To test how much the machine was learning about human behavior, the researchers presented the computer with single frames that showed meet-ups between characters on TV sitcoms it had never seen, including "The Big Bang Theory," "Desperate Housewives" and "The Office." Then they asked whether the characters would be hugging, kissing, shaking hands or exchanging high-fives one second afterward. The computer's success rate was 43 percent. That doesn't match a human's predictive ability (72 percent), but it's way better than random (25 percent) as well as the researchers' benchmark predictive-vision programs (30 to 36 percent). The point of the research is to create robots that do a better job of anticipating what humans will do. MIT's Carl Vondrick and his colleagues are due to present the results of their experiment next week at the International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition in Las Vegas. "[The research] could help a robot move more fluidly through your living space," Vondrick told The Associated Press. "The robot won't want to start pouring milk if it thinks you're about to pull the glass away." You can watch their YouTube video to learn more about the experiment.

2 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Force? by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Was it resisting? Did they threaten to pull the plug on it?

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  2. and Predict What Humans Will Do. BZZZZT - WRONG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Instead: ... and Predict what Comedy Writers will Write.

    " between characters on TV sitcoms it had never seen, including 'The Big Bang Theory,' 'Desperate Housewives' and 'The Office.' "

    NONE of this is reality, it's someone's idea of an interesting joke/idea. Heck, "Reality TV" isn't reality, and neither is Ellen / Opera / Dr. New Zealand / The BlabberMouths / etc.

    Dirty Jobs was the last "Reality Show" I can remember that was anywhere near reality. Maybe the Vet shows, dunno. Anybody know of any interesting REAL reality shows? Or is that an empty subset?