A Machine That Understands Language Like a Human

April 26, 2019 • by Marc Airhart

Alex Huth is trying to build an intelligent computer system that can predict the patterns of brain activity in a human listening to someone speaking.

Illustration of a brain with different regions colored differently

One thing that sets humans apart from even the smartest of artificially intelligent machines is the ability to understand, not just the definitions of words and phrases, but the deepest meanings embedded in human language.

Alex Huth, a neuroscientist and computer scientist, is trying to build an intelligent computer system that can predict the patterns of brain activity in a human listening to someone speaking. If a computer could begin to extract the same kinds of meaning from a set of words as a human does, that might help explain how the human brain itself makes sense of language – and even pave the way for a speech aid for people who can't speak.

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