Can DARPA Teach Machines to Read? (updated)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched the Machine Reading program to develop a revolutionary, automated reading system that bridges the gap between naturally occurring text and the artificial intelligence (AI) reasoning systems that need such knowledge. AI systems continue to grow in use by the US military as there is a consistent emphasis on using high technology as a strategic advantage and reducing reliance on humans. DID has more on this military application of AI and a recent IBM contract… Situation awareness, diagnostics, prognostics, planning, logistics – all are areas in which AI systems are used in military applications. A great deal of the militarily relevant knowledge that these systems need is presently expressed as natural-language text, unusable for AI systems. This knowledge may range from information about local political and militant groups to infrastructure and food supplies. The DARPA program intends to enable AI systems to use the vast amount of information available in text formats. Although this intelligent learning system would initially be used for military purposes, it could also enable a variety of civilian applications. For example, as more and more of the world’s libraries are converted to digital text, the system could provide […]