AI in 2017 can't nearly match the smarts of 'Star Wars' droids — it barely understands us

At the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Hollywood premiere this week, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke sat down cross-legged on the red carpet to speak with BB-8, an intelligent robotic character from the Star Wars galaxy. He looked intently at the robot and pointed his finger as he spoke, as if in animated conversation with the famous space droid.

This was, of course, a light mockery of modern robots. Machines — while capable of extremely impressive automated feats — lack true intellectual and emotional development. Still, in the past year, we were inundated with reports of artificial intelligence seeping into our homes and cars. But while smarter machines may have entered our lives in 2017, humanity's AI is still in its elementary stages. Read more...