Building a Computer That Learns What You Want

Wouldn't it be nice if your computer could figure out what you wanted it to do? That dream just might be approaching reality, thanks to a project called CALO that aims to teach computers to understand users' intentions, according to the MIT Technology Review. "If CALO succeeds, it'll be quite a revolution," says one researcher.

CALO, or "cognitive assistant that learns and organizes," is meant to learn about a user's work life and then intelligently filter information from meetings and other sources, interacting with people and even making decisions—for example, rescheduling a meeting if someone it knows is important can't attend. A simple version is in evaluation for military use. (More artificial intelligence stories.)