Meta’s new learning algorithm can teach AI to multi-task

If you can recognize a dog by sight, then you can probably recognize a dog when it is described to you in words. Not so for today’s artificial intelligence. Deep neural networks have become very good at identifying objects in photos and conversing in natural language, but not at the same time: there are AI models that excel at one or the other, but not both.

Part of the problem is that these models learn different skills using different techniques. This is a major obstacle for the development of more general-purpose AI, machines that can multi-task and adapt. It also means that advances in deep learning for one skill often do not transfer to others.

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