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The Nightmare Machine
06 January 2017

The Nightmare Machine

Deep in the bowels of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a machine is learning to scare us. The Nightmare Machine is actually a set of computer algorithms fed a diet of spooky images. It uses deep machine learning to find common scary features in images of haunted houses and graveyards, all the while searching for what we find terrifying. The next step is to show us. Here the machine applies the tricks it’s learnt, the goose-bump-inducing tricks of perspective, lighting and unease to Tower Bridge in London. But the Nightmare Machine isn’t finished – now it needs a steady stream of human brains. Visitors to this website can rank scary images, telling the machine which ones raise a whimper. Such interaction between human and machine may help to understand the psychology of fear and also suggest new avenues in artificial intelligence, which you may find even scarier.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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