Chinese web search giant Baidu unveiled its latest technology Monday, saying it had taken the lead in the global race for true artificial intelligence.
Minwa, the company's supercomputer, scanned more than 1 million images and taught itself to sort them into about 1,000 categories — and did so with 95.42% accuracy, the company claims, adding that no other computer has completed the task at that same level. Google's system scored a 95.2% and Microsoft's, a 95.06%, Baidu said.
All three companies' computers, however, exceed human performance.
The concept of "deep learning," or self-learning, algorithms is not unique to Minwa. Yet Baidu seems to have the upper hand and is not slowing down: the company has announced plans to build an even faster computer in the next 2 years, one capable of 7 quadrillion calculations per second.
**Detailed results of Baidu's report can be viewed at:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1501.02876v3.pdf
