As we wrap up 2017, I’m pleased to share several new items with you. Our co-founder Jeff Hawkins recently completed an east coast speaking tour where he presented our latest research at three institutions: Cold Spring Harbor Labs, Boston University, and the MIT Center for Brains, Minds + Machines. Together with our VP of Research Subutai Ahmad, they spent the week discussing our theory, engaging with scientists, and encouraging experimentalists. The reception was quite positive, and we’re thrilled to see how the neuroscience community embraced the material.
In his talks, Jeff provided a complete overview of Numenta’s work, including not only the advances described in our latest peer-reviewed papers, but also the more recent discoveries, some of which have not yet been documented. This work brings us closer to our mission of proposing a complete theory of how the neocortex works. I encourage you to watch the video above of Jeff’s presentation at the MIT Center for Brains, Minds + Machines to understand how it all fits together. While some of the details are technical, even non-neuroscientists will gain a better understanding of Numenta’s work.
Before Jeff headed out on his trip, I sat down with him to take a look back at 2017. We talked about the progress in our brain theory, the results of doubling down on neuroscience research, and what it means for Numenta that the worlds of AI and neuroscience are inevitably converging. Jeff even shared some predictions for Numenta in 2018. You can view the full, ten minute conversation below.
After you’ve watched the videos, you may enjoy a new blog post that Subutai recently wrote: a piece on the difference between Capsules and HTM. Those who follow the deep learning world will recognize that “Capsules” is the term for the latest deep learning advance. Because there are some similarities on the surface, we’ve been getting questions from people about how capsules compares to our recently published research. Subutai takes a closer look at these similarities and also breaks down the fundamental differences in this new post.
In other news, our partner Cortical.io has opened an office in New York, and they are looking to expand their NY team with a Solutions Director and Machine Learning Software Engineers. If you’re passionate about Natural Language Understanding and want to work with groundbreaking machine learning technology, view the job postings to learn more about the requirements.
Thank you for continuing to follow Numenta. We’re excited about the progress we’ve made in 2017 and even more so for the year ahead. I look forward to sharing more progress with you as it unfolds and hearing from you along the way. Have a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year.
Christy Maver • VP of Marketing