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In today’s newsletter, James Somers on how robots learn. And then:
“This is the year that people really realized that you can build general-purpose robots,” Carolina Parada, the leader of the robotics team at Google DeepMind, said recently.Illustration by Tameem Sankari
A Revolution in How Robots Learn
A future generation of robots will not be programmed to complete specific tasks. Instead, they will use A.I. to teach themselves.
Every time a video would go viral showing a humanoid robot jumping, dancing, or doing some other remarkable physical activity, there was a feeling among the general public that our wildest science-fiction dreams were just moments from coming to life. But inside the field of robotics itself, developments were happening far more slowly than in other similar technological fields, and straightforward practical applications, such as making a cup of coffee, remained out of reach. “A hopelessness hung over the whole enterprise,” James Somers writes, in this week’s issue. But that is changing—fast. “The last two years have been a dramatically steeper progress curve,” Carolina Parada, the leader of the robotics team at Google DeepMind, tells Somers. “This is the year that people really realized that you can build general-purpose robots.” The key development is that robots will no longer need to be programmed; instead they will learn through artificial intelligence, and then share that knowledge widely. “Once one robot has learned how to tie shoes, all of them can do it,” Somers writes. “Imagine copying and pasting not just a recipe for an omelette but the very act of making it.”Read or listen to the story »
The Lede
J. D. Vance at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, in August, 2024.Photograph by Ryan Collerd / AFP / Getty
Did the Opioid Epidemic Fuel Donald Trump’s Return to the White House?
New research suggests that the Democrats’ struggles in communities battling fentanyl addiction had little to do with economic theory or messaging, Benjamin Wallace-Wells reports. It was, more simply, a failure of political attention. Read the story »
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Daily Cartoon
“I’d like to give up my seat to someone who can tolerate their family during the holidays.”
Cartoon by Anjali Chandrashekar
More Fun & Games
P.S. After his brief moment of consideration for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz swiftly moved on to a new venture: selling personalized videos (birthday wishes, pep talks, congratulations) on Cameo. Naomi Fry has written about how the video service took off during the pandemic, and why it offers a new way to think about our interactions with celebrities. “The transactional nature is out in the open,” she writes, “and videos swerve between overt, unapologetic shilling and surprisingly earnest sentiment.”
