Peter Ma on Using AI to Find Promising Signals of Alien Life

by Brian Caulfield

Peter Ma was bored in his high school computer science class. So he decided to teach himself something new: how to use artificial intelligence to find alien life.

That’s how he eventually became the lead author of a groundbreaking study published in Nature Astronomy.

The study reveals how Ma and his co-authors used AI to analyze a massive dataset of radio signals collected by the SETI Breakthrough Listen project.

They found eight signals that might just be technosignatures or signs of alien technology.

In this episode of the NVIDIA AI Podcast, host Noah Kravitz interviews Ma, who is now an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto.

Ma tells Kravitz how he stumbled upon this problem and how he developed an AI algorithm that outperformed traditional methods in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

You Might Also Like

Sequoia Capital’s Pat Grady and Sonya Huang on Generative AI
Pat Grady and Sonya Huang, partners at Sequoia Capital, to discuss their recent essay, “Generative AI: A Creative New World.” The authors delve into the potential of generative AI to enable new forms of creativity and expression, as well as the challenges and ethical considerations of this technology. They also offer insights into the future of generative AI.

Real or Not Real? Attorney Steven Frank Uses Deep Learning to Authenticate Art
Steven Frank is a partner at the law firm Morgan Lewis, specializing in intellectual property and commercial technology law. He’s also half of the husband-wife team that used convolutional neural networks to authenticate artistic masterpieces, including da Vinci’s Salvador Mundi, with AI’s help.

GANTheftAuto: Harrison Kinsley on AI-Generated Gaming Environments
Humans playing games against machines is nothing new, but now computers can develop games for people to play. Programming enthusiast and social media influencer Harrison Kinsley created GANTheftAuto, an AI-based neural network that generates a playable chunk of the classic video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Subscribe, Review and Follow NVIDIA AI on Twitter

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the NVIDIA AI Podcast on your favorite podcast platform and leave a rating and review. Follow @NVIDIAAI on Twitter or email the AI Podcast team to get in touch.