Putting Text Generators on a Leash
Language

Putting Text Generators on a Leash

Despite dramatic recent progress, natural language generation remains an iffy proposition. Even users of the muscular GPT-2 text generator have to press the button a number of times to get sensible output. But researchers are figuring out how to exert greater control over generated text.

October 2, 20192 min read
The Long and Short of It
Language

The Long and Short of It

Not long ago, text-to-speech systems could read only a sentence at a time, and they were ranked according to their ability to accomplish that limited task. Now that they can orate entire books, we need new benchmarks.

September 25, 20191 min read
AI Knows Who Labeled the Data
Language

AI Knows Who Labeled the Data

The latest language models are great at answering questions about a given text passage. However, these models are also powerful enough to recognize an individual writer’s style, which can clue them in to the right answers. New research measures such annotator bias in several data sets.

September 25, 20192 min read
The Long and Short of It
Language

The Long and Short of It

Not long ago, text-to-speech systems could read only a sentence at a time, and they were ranked according to their ability to accomplish that limited task. Now that they can orate entire books, we need new benchmarks.

September 25, 20191 min read
AI Knows Who Labeled the Data
Language

AI Knows Who Labeled the Data

The latest language models are great at answering questions about a given text passage. However, these models are also powerful enough to recognize an individual writer’s style, which can clue them in to the right answers. New research measures such annotator bias in several data sets.

September 25, 20192 min read
My Chatbot Will Call Your Chatbot
Language

My Chatbot Will Call Your Chatbot

Companies with large numbers of contractual relationships may leave millions of dollars on the table because it’s not practical to customize each agreement. A new startup offers a chatbot designed to claw back that money.

September 18, 20191 min read
Speech Recognition With an Accent
Language

Speech Recognition With an Accent

Models that achieve state-of-the-art performance in automatic speech recognition (ASR) often perform poorly on nonstandard speech. New research offers methods to make ASR more useful to users with heavy accents or speech impairment.

September 18, 20192 min read
Speech Recognition With an Accent
Language

Speech Recognition With an Accent

Models that achieve state-of-the-art performance in automatic speech recognition (ASR) often perform poorly on nonstandard speech. New research offers methods to make ASR more useful to users with heavy accents or speech impairment.

September 18, 20192 min read
My Chatbot Will Call Your Chatbot
Language

My Chatbot Will Call Your Chatbot

Companies with large numbers of contractual relationships may leave millions of dollars on the table because it’s not practical to customize each agreement. A new startup offers a chatbot designed to claw back that money.

September 18, 20191 min read
What Language Models Know
Language

What Language Models Know

Watson set a high bar for language understanding in 2011, when it famously whipped human competitors in the televised trivia game show Jeopardy! IBM’s special-purpose AI required around $1 billion. Research suggests that today’s best language models can accomplish similar tasks right off the shelf.

September 11, 20192 min read
What Language Models Know
Language

What Language Models Know

Watson set a high bar for language understanding in 2011, when it famously whipped human competitors in the televised trivia game show Jeopardy! IBM’s special-purpose AI required around $1 billion. Research suggests that today’s best language models can accomplish similar tasks right off the shelf.

September 11, 20192 min read
How to Share Dangerous AI
Language

How to Share Dangerous AI

OpenAI raised eyebrows in February when it announced — and withheld — the full version of its groundbreaking language model, GPT-2. Six months later, the company has re-examined the decision.

September 4, 20191 min read
Smart Students, Dumb Algorithms: NLP Systems Struggle at Grading Essays
Language

Smart Students, Dumb Algorithms: NLP Systems Struggle at Grading Essays

A growing number of companies that sell standardized tests are using natural language processing to assess writing skills. Critics contend that these language models don’t make the grade.

September 4, 20191 min read
How to Share Dangerous AI
Language

How to Share Dangerous AI

OpenAI raised eyebrows in February when it announced — and withheld — the full version of its groundbreaking language model, GPT-2. Six months later, the company has re-examined the decision.

September 4, 20191 min read
Smart Students, Dumb Algorithms: NLP Systems Struggle at Grading Essays
Language

Smart Students, Dumb Algorithms: NLP Systems Struggle at Grading Essays

A growing number of companies that sell standardized tests are using natural language processing to assess writing skills. Critics contend that these language models don’t make the grade.

September 4, 20191 min read

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