It’s still heartening to see that big companies can still invest in basic research, with much of the work done in Silicon Valley. Japanese telecommunications firm NTT announced a series of research projects last week that could pave the way for better AI and more energy efficient data centers. At a press conference in San Francisco, NTT researchers including Kazu Gomi, CEO of NTT Research, said the company has created a new large language model (LLM) integration that can see and process graphical elements of documents. I caught up with Gomi for an interview during the event. Gomi also said NTT has initiated a new field of science, “the physics of intelligence,” to study sustainable and trustworthy AI. It teamed up with Harvard University to study brain science, and it is working on making a “digital twin” of the human heart. It’s also exploring quantum computing. How NTT Research approaches its basic science explorations | Kazu Gomi interview | VentureBeat

The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is built using neural networks that mimic the neural pathways in our own brains. Yet despite the powerful capabilities of current AI technology, its software can’t yet be classed as being independently intelligent. Further, the issue of hallucinations and black box phenomenons highlights the stark gap between the exciting results AI can deliver and our understanding of why computational models have reached a given outcome. This is also true with the human condition when neurodegenerative conditions strike with unpredictable impacts on the behavior of patients. NTT Research Foundation, Harvard Announce Fellowship for Physics of Intelligence Research | HackerNoon

Although a large portion of the articles in Quantum Computing Report by GQI cover gate-based quantum computers, we should remind our readers that these are not the only game in town. In particular, there are also many other types of physics-based processors that have a potential to outperform classical computers and gate-based computers for problems the use combinatorial optimization. They include quantum annealers, simulated bifurcation machines, Lightsolver, and the Coherent Ising Machine. GQI believes that combinatorial optimization problems may comprise as much as one-third of the total market for quantum applications. So although these optimization focused machines may not be as general as the gate-based systems, there still is a significant market to make development of these special purpose processors potentially worthwhile. How Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) Will Power the Next generation of Coherent Ising Machines – Quantum Computing Report

The NTT Research Foundation announced this month a gift to establish the Harvard University Center for Brain Science (CBS)-NTT Fellowship Program. The program will support the research into the physics of intelligence, with the two-year gift, renewable for up to three more years, creating a fund to support post-doctoral research in the physics of intelligence. If renewed the donation could total to be more than $1.7 million. The physics of science is an emerging field that uses physics to tackle fundamental questions in intelligence, bridging computer science, neuroscience and psychology. NTT Research Foundation announces gift to establish Harvard University Center for Brain Science Fellowship Program – StartUp Beat

Harvard University’s Center for Brain Science received a gift of more than $300,000 per year for up to five years from the NTT Research Foundation, the foundation announced Thursday. According to the announcement, the program will be funded for two years with a possible three-year extension. The gift will establish a fund supporting postdoctoral research in the physics of intelligence, which intends to use physics to address fundamental questions in intelligence while bridging the areas of computer science, neuroscience, and psychology. Kazu Gomi — president and CEO of NTT Research, the global research and development arm of NTT — said the foundation hopes “the center is going to use that money to hire postdoctoral fellows.” Harvard Center for Brain Science Receives Up to $1.7 Million Gift from NTT Research | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)

The NTT Research Foundation has made a gift to establish the Harvard University Center for Brain Science (CBS)-NTT Fellowship Program in the new field of Physics of Intelligence. The two-year gift, renewable for up to three more years, creates a fund that supports post-doctoral research in the physics of intelligence, an emerging field that uses physics to tackle fundamental questions in intelligence, bridging computer science, neuroscience and psychology. If renewed, the donation could total more than USD 1.7 million. NTT Research funds brain science programme with Harvard University – Telecompaper

They have (arguably) always been fairly fond of digital intelligence as it has evolved through various decades and iterations that have taken it from the AI we used to consider ‘like in the movies’ throughout the quarter century before the millennium – as it has now progressed to become the AI ‘that’s really real with generative-AI at the fore’ that we consider today. Because of these core realities, there’s a special relationship between data science, machine learning science and indeed human brain science. Now working to support this emerging field is NTT Research with its NTT Fellowship Program as part of the NTT Research Foundation. NTT Research focused on ‘physics of intelligence’ with Harvard Center for Brain Science (computerweekly.com)