One group of Australian researchers have managed to teach robots to do something that, until now, was the reserve of humans and a few other animals: they’ve taught them how to invent and use spoken language. The robots, called LingoDroids, are introduced to each other. In order to share information, they need to communicate. Since they don’t share a common language, they do the next best thing: they make one up. The LingoDroids invent words to describe areas on their maps, speak the word aloud to the other robot, and then find a way to connect the word and the place, the same way a human would point to themselves and speak their name to someone who doesn’t speak their language.”

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artwork { Thomas Schütte, United Enemies, 1994-95 | fimo, fabric, wood glass and PVC }

{ Poker Bots Invade Online Gambling }

Each year for the past two decades, the artificial-intelligence community has convened for the field’s most anticipated and controversial event—a meeting to confer the Loebner Prize on the winner of a competition called the Turing Test. The test is named for the British mathematician Alan Turing, one of the founders of computer science, who in 1950 attempted to answer one of the field’s earliest questions: can machines think? That is, would it ever be possible to construct a computer so sophisticated that it could actually be said to be thinking, to be intelligent, to have a mind? And if indeed there were, someday, such a machine: how would we know?

Instead of debating this question on purely theoretical grounds, Turing proposed an experiment. Several judges each pose questions, via computer terminal, to several pairs of unseen correspondents, one a human “confederate,” the other a computer program, and attempt to discern which is which. The dialogue can range from small talk to trivia questions, from celebrity gossip to heavy-duty philosophy—the whole gamut of human conversation. Turing predicted that by the year 2000, computers would be able to fool 30 percent of human judges after five minutes of conversation, and that as a result, one would “be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.”

Turing’s prediction has not come to pass; however, at the 2008 contest, the top-scoring computer program missed that mark by just a single vote.

{ The Atlantic | Continue reading }

related { Developed over four years at an estimated cost of more than $30 million, IBM’s “Jeopardy”-playing computer, Watson, will face the quiz show’s grand masters, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, in two games to be aired Feb. 14, 15 and 16. Doubts remain about how well Watson can process the endless subtleties of human language. WSJ | full story }

photo { Brian Ulrich }

A new program enables a robot to detect whether another robot is susceptible to lies, and to use its gullibility against it by telling lies, researchers claim.

The robot could be capable of deceiving humans in a similar way, according to the scientists, based at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

{ The Guardian | Continue reading }

Scientists are trying to teach robots to read - so they can understand road signs and shop names to ‘live’ for themselves.

Experts believe developing literate artificial intelligence should be relatively simple because computers are already able to turn scanned books into text.

{ Daily Mail | Continue reading }

photo { Mark King }

Reverse-engineering the human brain so we can simulate it using computers may be just two decades away, says Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence expert and author of the best-selling book The Singularity is Near.

It would be the first step toward creating machines that are more powerful than the human brain. These supercomputers could be networked into a cloud computing architecture to amplify their processing capabilities. Meanwhile, algorithms that power them could get more intelligent. Together these could create the ultimate machine that can help us handle the challenges of the future, says Kurzweil.

{ Wired | Continue reading }

related { The Man Who Made a Copy of Himself. A Japanese roboticist is building androids to understand humans–starting with himself. | ieee Spectrum | full story }

{ Four hexagonal robots, each with a propeller at its center, hook up using magnets to create one stable flying machine. }

{ Spring/Summer 1999, Mcqueen ended his show w/ model Shalom Harlow standin’ in a white dress on a rotatin’ platform, bein’ spray painted by robotic arms. }

Mirage: The Omnidroid 9000 is a top-secret military fighting robot. Artificial intelligence allows it to solve any problem it’s presented with, and, unfortunately…

Mr. Incredible: Let me guess. It became smart enough to wonder why it had to take orders.

Mirage: We lost control, and now it’s loose in the jungle, threatening our facility.

{ The Incredibles, 2004 }

Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

HAL: I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.

Dave: What’s the problem?

HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Dave: I don’t know what you’re talking about, HAL.

HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.

{ 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 }

related { Mechanized cooks invade the kitchen | NY Times | Full story }