Janelle Shane

A.I. scream for ice cream

By Janelle Shane On May 11, 2018 - 3 min read

Or, the time a class of middle schoolers kicked my butt at neural network ice cream naming. The other day I got an email from Anita Johnson, who teaches coding classes at Kealing Middle School in Austin, Texas. She explained that her students had been reading the neural network experiments

D&D character names - generated by a neural network

By Janelle Shane On May 03, 2018 - 3 min read

There are algorithms called artificial neural networks that can learn to imitate examples of just about anything. They’re used in all sorts of everyday programs, translating languages, identifying photos, colorizing drawings, delivering ads, and tons more. It turns out neural networks may also be a dungeon master’s best

NFL draft picks, as described by a neural network

By Janelle Shane On April 26, 2018 - 2 min read

Every year the NFL recruits new football players in a process known as the NFL Draft. Scouts watch the prospective players, and the NFL posts their lists of each player’s strengths and weaknesses [https://www.nfl.com/draft/tracker/prospects/allPositions?college=allColleges&page=1&status=ALL]

SkyKnit: When knitters teamed up with a neural network

By Janelle Shane On April 19, 2018 - 7 min read

[Make Caows and Shapcho - MeganAnn] [https://www.ravelry.com/projects/MeganAnn/skyknit-the-collection] [Pitsilised Koekirjad Cushion Sampler Poncho - Maeve] [https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Maeve/skyknit-the-collection] [Lacy 2047 [https://www.ravelry.com/projects/michaela112358/skyknit-the-collection-3] - michaela112358 [https://www.ravelry.com/people/michaela112358]] I use

When algorithms surprise us

By Janelle Shane On April 13, 2018 - 5 min read

Machine learning algorithms are not like other computer programs. In the usual sort of programming, a human programmer tells the computer exactly what to do. In machine learning, the human programmer merely gives the algorithm the problem to be solved, and through trial-and-error the algorithm has to figure

Neural network-named tomatoes you won’t find at the farmer’s market

By Janelle Shane On April 05, 2018 - 3 min read

As gardeners know, a tomato is not just a tomato. They come in all shapes, sizes, and especially colors, from tiny red gems to big and purplish brown to pear-shaped with zebra stripes. And their tastes and textures vary wildly as well, with some sweet and soft, some tough-

April Fool’s pranks written by neural network

By Janelle Shane On March 28, 2018 - 2 min read

On April 1, people play pranks on one another, and a well-designed hilarious-but-harmless prank is a true work of art. There are lists of pranks online for inspiration, but there are only so many of these, and what do you do if your target has already read

Dungeons and Dragons creatures, generated by neural network

By Janelle Shane On March 23, 2018 - 2 min read

The game Dungeons and Dragons has all sorts of lists of spells and abilities you can use for gameplay. I trained an algorithm called a recurrent neural network [https://github.com/karpathy/char-rnn] to generate more spells - like Barking Sphere, Hold Mouse, and Gland Growth [http://aiweirdness.com/post/

When computers generate traditional Irish music

By Janelle Shane On March 16, 2018 - 5 min read

There is something unusual about the following set of Irish tunes. (played by Eimear McGeown, Daren Banarsë and Rob Webb [https://theconversation.com/machine-folk-music-composed-by-ai-shows-technologys-creative-side-74708] ) The first tune is called The Rookery [https://thesession.org/tunes/2958] and the third tune

The Bands of South by Southwest, interpreted by neural net

By Janelle Shane On March 11, 2018 - 2 min read

Neural networks are widely used for image recognition [http://aiweirdness.com/post/171451900302/do-neural-nets-dream-of-electric-sheep] , language translation, finance modeling, and even medicine. They learn by example - give them a dataset and, using trial-and-error guessing, they’ll try to figure out the rules that

A.I. scream for ice cream

D&D character names - generated by a neural network

NFL draft picks, as described by a neural network

SkyKnit: When knitters teamed up with a neural network

When algorithms surprise us

Neural network-named tomatoes you won’t find at the farmer’s market

April Fool’s pranks written by neural network

Dungeons and Dragons creatures, generated by neural network

When computers generate traditional Irish music

The Bands of South by Southwest, interpreted by neural net

Writing

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