Brains, Minds and Machines
The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
Course Date: August 13 – September 3, 2015
Deadline: March 16, 2015* .
*Please note that registration is now closed.
Directors: Gabriel Kreiman, Harvard University; and Tomaso Poggio, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (L. Mahadevan, honorary director)

Click here to see course schedule (updated Aug. 20, 2015.>

Click here to see the project list.>

The problem of intelligence – how the brain produces intelligent behavior and how we may be able to replicate intelligence in machines – is arguably the greatest problem in science and technology. To solve it we will need to understand how human intelligence emerges from computation in neural circuits, with rigor sufficient to reproduce similar intelligent behavior in machines. Success in this endeavor ultimately will enable us to understand ourselves better, to produce smarter machines, and perhaps even to make ourselves smarter. Today’s AI technologies, such as Watson and Siri, are impressive, but their domain specificity and reliance on vast numbers of labeled examples are obvious limitations; few view this as brain-like or human intelligence. The synergistic combination of cognitive science, neurobiology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science holds the promise to build much more robust and sophisticated algorithms implemented in intelligent machines. The goal of this course is to help produce a community of leaders that is equally knowledgeable in neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science.

The first half of the course will focus on the intersection between biological and computational aspects of learning and vision. The second half will focus on high-level social cognition and artificial intelligence, as well as audition, speech and language processing.

CBMM will also be hosting an Evening Lecture Series, including speakers from both industry and academia, in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and cognitive science. Speakers include:

Larry Abbott, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Dorin Comaniciu, Siemens Corporate Technology
Demis Hassabis, DeepMind
Tom Mitchell, Carnegie Mellon University 
Amnon Shashua, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mobileye, OrCam
Eero Simoncelli, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University

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