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Title: Crossing the Cleft: Communication Challenges Between Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Historically, neuroscience principles have heavily influenced artificial intelligence (AI), for example the influence of the perceptron model, essentially a simple model of a biological neuron, on artificial neural networks. More recently, notable recent AI advances, for example the growing popularity of reinforcement learning, often appear more aligned with cognitive neuroscience or psychology, focusing on function at a relatively abstract level. At the same time, neuroscience stands poised to enter a new era of large-scale high-resolution data and appears more focused on underlying neural mechanisms or architectures that can, at times, seem rather removed from functional descriptions. While this might seem to foretell a new generation of AI approaches arising from a deeper exploration of neuroscience specifically for AI, the most direct path for achieving this is unclear. Here we discuss cultural differences between the two fields, including divergent priorities that should be considered when leveraging modern-day neuroscience for AI. For example, the two fields feed two very different applications that at times require potentially conflicting perspectives. We highlight small but significant cultural shifts that we feel would greatly facilitate increased synergy between the two fields.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
OSTI Identifier:
1617318
Report Number(s):
SAND-2020-4146J
Journal ID: ISSN 1662-5188; 685384
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 39; Journal ID: ISSN 1662-5188
Publisher:
Frontiers Research Foundation
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; artificial intelligence; neural-inspired algorithms; neuromorphic; deep learning; artificial neural network

Citation Formats

Chance, Frances S., Aimone, James B., Musuvathy, Srideep S., Smith, Michael R., Vineyard, Craig M., and Wang, Felix. Crossing the Cleft: Communication Challenges Between Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.3389/fncom.2020.00039.
Chance, Frances S., Aimone, James B., Musuvathy, Srideep S., Smith, Michael R., Vineyard, Craig M., & Wang, Felix. Crossing the Cleft: Communication Challenges Between Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence. United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2020.00039
Chance, Frances S., Aimone, James B., Musuvathy, Srideep S., Smith, Michael R., Vineyard, Craig M., and Wang, Felix. Wed . "Crossing the Cleft: Communication Challenges Between Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence". United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2020.00039. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1617318.
@article{osti_1617318,
title = {Crossing the Cleft: Communication Challenges Between Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence},
author = {Chance, Frances S. and Aimone, James B. and Musuvathy, Srideep S. and Smith, Michael R. and Vineyard, Craig M. and Wang, Felix},
abstractNote = {Historically, neuroscience principles have heavily influenced artificial intelligence (AI), for example the influence of the perceptron model, essentially a simple model of a biological neuron, on artificial neural networks. More recently, notable recent AI advances, for example the growing popularity of reinforcement learning, often appear more aligned with cognitive neuroscience or psychology, focusing on function at a relatively abstract level. At the same time, neuroscience stands poised to enter a new era of large-scale high-resolution data and appears more focused on underlying neural mechanisms or architectures that can, at times, seem rather removed from functional descriptions. While this might seem to foretell a new generation of AI approaches arising from a deeper exploration of neuroscience specifically for AI, the most direct path for achieving this is unclear. Here we discuss cultural differences between the two fields, including divergent priorities that should be considered when leveraging modern-day neuroscience for AI. For example, the two fields feed two very different applications that at times require potentially conflicting perspectives. We highlight small but significant cultural shifts that we feel would greatly facilitate increased synergy between the two fields.},
doi = {10.3389/fncom.2020.00039},
journal = {Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience},
number = 39,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

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