IARPA Wants better Machine Learning

Machine Learning: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Government Computer News,  Matt Leonard

Although machine-learning technology is still in its early stages, the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) has been studying machine learning since 2006. Some of its early efforts include the Biometrics Exploitation Science and Technology program, which developed tools for facial recognition that have since been widely adopted. Meanwhile, other projects focused on natural-language processing and formed the basis for the use of machine learning in more complex applications, such as predicting cyberattacks based on conversations in hacker forums and the market price of malware, forecasting military mobilization and terrorism, and developing accurate three-dimensional models of buildings from satellite imagery. IARPA also is studying ways of improving neural networks, the fundamental architecture upon which machine learning is built. For example, the Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks program aims to reverse-engineer the algorithms of the brain, while the agency also is starting to examine how quantum computing will affect machine learning. .... "