Andrew Barto and his former student Richard Sutton have been awarded the A.M. Turing Award for their significant contributions to reinforcement learning, a branch of artificial intelligence that mimics how animals are trained. Their research, initiated in the 1970s, has become foundational for numerous advancements in AI, including notable feats like Google's AlphaGo. Despite initially working in what felt like a neglected area of study, the growing recognition of their work highlights its importance in today's AI developments.
"We were kind of in the wilderness… which is why it's so gratifying to receive this award, to see this becoming more recognized as something relevant and interesting."
"Reinforcement learning is what led a Google computer program to beat the world's best human players of the ancient Chinese board game Go in 2016 and 2017."
Collection
[
|
...
]