AI and Neuroscience: The virtuous circle

What can the human brain teach us about AI? And what can AI teach us about our own intelligence? These questions underpin a lot of AI research. In this first episode, Hannah meets the DeepMind Neuroscience team to explore these connections and discovers how our brains are like birds’ wings, what training a dog and an AI agent have in common, and why the simplest things for people to do are, paradoxically, often the hardest for machines.

If you have a question or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter (@DeepMind using the hashtag #DMpodcast) or email us at podcast@deepmind.com.

Further reading

• BBC: An AI playlist
• Wait But Why: The AI Revolution
• Coursera: AI for everyone
• Medium: Machine Learning for Humans
• Google Arts & Culture: 25 moments that have defined AI
• Royal Society: What is Machine Learning?
• The Algorithm: A weeklyemail newsletter from MIT Tech Review
• DeepMind blog: neuroscience and AI: a virtuous circle
• Nature: Far-sighted birds plan breakfast the evening before

Interviewees in this episode: Deepmind CEO and co-founder, Demis Hassabis; Matt Botvinick, Director of Neuroscience Research; research scientists Jess Hamrick and Greg Wayne; and Director of Research, Koray Kavukcuoglu.

Credits:
Presenter: Hannah Fry
Editor: David Prest
Senior Producer: Louisa Field
Producers: Amy Racs, Dan Hardoon
Binaural Sound: Lucinda Mason-Brown
Music composition: Eleni Shaw (with help from Sander Dieleman and WaveNet)
Commissioned by DeepMind