This Week in Machine Learning, 18 December 2017

This week’s top Machine Learning stories: an AI-generated Harry Potter chapter, a smartphone-based lightsaber, and more!

Machine Learning is one of the most exciting fields in the world. Every week we discover something new, something amazing, something revolutionary. That’s why we created This Week in Machine Learning! Each week we publish a curated list of Machine Learning stories as a resource to help you keep pace with all these exciting developments. New posts will be published here first, and previous posts are archived on the Udacity blog.

Whether you’re currently enrolled in our Machine Learning Nanodegree program, already working in the field, or just pursuing a burgeoning interest in the subject, there will always be something here to inspire you!

Education

Banking giant Capital One commits a $3 million endowment to the University of Maryland to cultivate talent in machine learning, data analysis, and cybersecurity.

Finance

St. Louis-based startup Prattle applies natural language processing to earning announcements and bank policy statements to enhance market predictions.

Entertainment

Scientists from MIT’s Media Lab use machine learning to train computers to comprehend the emotional arcs present in movies like Pixar’s Up.

Marketing

Digital marketing agency iProspect reports 55% of marketers say machine learning helps them make better decisions; 56% say machine learning is a top 2018 priority.

Literature

Developers train an agent on the Harry Potter series, which goes on to generate the first three pages of “Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash.”

Fun

Using deep learning, a Redditor makes a smartphone app called InstaSaber that turns live footage of a rolled-up piece of paper into a lightsaber.