John Pavlus

Contributing Writer

Latest Articles

Q&A

The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details

October 7, 2024

To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials.

How ‘Embeddings’ Encode What Words Mean — Sort Of

September 18, 2024

Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers.

What Is Machine Learning?

July 8, 2024

Neural networks and other forms of machine learning ultimately learn by trial and error, one improvement at a time.

Q&A

Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out.

April 25, 2024

The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into concrete, testable ideas.

Q&A

The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies

July 14, 2021

Melanie Mitchell has worked on digital minds for decades. She says they’ll never truly be like ours until they can make analogies.

Same or Different? The Question Flummoxes Neural Networks.

June 23, 2021

For all their triumphs, AI systems can’t seem to generalize the concepts of “same” and “different.” Without that, researchers worry, the quest to create truly intelligent machines may be hopeless.

How the Slowest Computer Programs Illuminate Math’s Fundamental Limits

December 10, 2020

The goal of the “busy beaver” game is to find the longest-running computer program. Its pursuit has surprising connections to some of the most profound questions and concepts in mathematics.

Why Is Glass Rigid? Signs of Its Secret Structure Emerge.

July 7, 2020

At the molecular level, glass looks like a liquid. But an artificial neural network has picked up on hidden structure in its molecules that may explain why glass is rigid like a solid.

A Digital Locksmith Has Decoded Biology’s Molecular Keys

June 3, 2020

Neural networks have been taught to quickly read the surfaces of proteins — molecules critical to many biological processes.

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