Thursday, September 11, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE! Secret Science Club presents Rob Fergus on Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence

Can computers see like humans? At NYU and Facebook, Rob Fergus is eyeing the possibilities.

Seeing ain’t easy. About one-third of your brain is devoted to vision. And that complexity makes vision one of the thorniest problems in artificial intelligence. Computer scientist Rob Fergus and his colleagues aim to mimic or even surpass the capabilities of the human brain. But getting a computer to correctly identify a visual object (a cat, for instance) was nearly impossible until recently.

A technique called deep learning has radically improved the ability of devices to recognize images and interpret speech. Deep learning uses computerized neural networks to process information, and their performance at visual recognition is rapidly approaching that of humans.

Where is machine vision taking us? The Secret Science Club is ready to leap into the future. Dr. Fergus asks: What if you could tell your computer to use its “eyes” to organize your photo collection? Can space telescopes be trained to look for Earth-like planets? Are there medical conditions that can be screened for or diagnosed with machine vision? Could your personal robot valet’s eyes get so good that he never gives you mismatched socks ever again?

Rob Fergus is associate professor of computer science at NYU’s Courant Institute and a research scientist at Facebook’s new Artificial Intelligence lab.

Before & After

--Try our pixelated cocktail of the night, the Machine Dream!

--Do the robot to data-driven grooves

--Stick around for the wet-wired Q&A

This open source edition of the Secret Science Club meets Thursday, September 11, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self! 

PLUS! Check out these three special SSC events coming up at Symphony Space!