Integrating Symbols into Deep Learning

Prof Stephen Muggleton FREng ( Imperial College )

Computer Science is the symbolic science of programming, incorporating techniques for representing and reasoning about the semantics, correctness and synthesis of computer programs. Recent techniques involving the learning of deep neural networks has challenged the "human programmer" model of Computer Science by showing that bottom-up approaches to program synthesis from sensory data can achieve impressive results ranging from visual scene analysis, expert level play in Atari games and world-class play in complex board games such as Go. Alongside the successes of Deep Learning increasing concerns are being voiced in the public domain concerning the deployment of fully automated systems with unexpected and undesirable behaviours. In this presentation we will discuss the state-of-the-art and future challenges of Machine Learning technologies which promise the transparency of symbolic Computer Science with the power and reach of sub-symbolic Deep Learning. We will discuss both weak and strong integration models for symbolic and sub-symbolic Machine Learning alongside ongoing work on applications in this area.