Why Machines Need to Dream
The ingenious neurobiology of mammalian sleep has been mathematically modeled to streamline A.I. memory and storage capacity
Dreams are, for the most part, delightful. As we sleep, visual and audio fragments combine into nonsensical snippets and epic narratives. Loosely recalled moments merge with vivid, imagined scenes; we interact with characters known and characters conjured up; we explore our fantasies and, sometimes, face our fears. Yet sleeping and dreaming do not exist for our nocturnal pleasure alone.
As we slumber, our brains filter information collected in waking hours. Neurological processes spring into action. They discard what is irrelevant and consolidate what is important; they form and store memories. These mechanisms — found throughout the mammal world — are so effective that a team of Italian researchers have mathematically modeled them for use in artificial intelligence.
The result is an algorithm that expands the storage capacity of artificial networks by forcing them into an off-line sleep phase during which they reinforce relevant memories (pure states) and erase irrelevant ones (spurious states).
