New study on brain’s visual regions can help build effective AI systems

Columbia University's School of Engineering study in the US has shown that the brain's visual regions play an active role in making sense of information, which could help build more adaptive AI systems.

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Crucially, the way it interprets the information depends on what the rest of the brain is working on.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study led by biomedical engineer and neuroscientist Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana, provides some of the clearest evidence yet that early sensory systems play a role in decision-making - and that they adapt in real-time.

It also points to new approaches for designing AI systems that can adapt to new or unexpected situations.

The findings challenge the traditional view that early sensory areas in the brain are simply "looking" or "recording" visual input. In fact, the human brain's visual system actively reshapes how it represents the exact same object depending on what you're trying to do.