| Science fiction has built up the idea of artificial | | | | (I think they're just trying to justify their funding with the |
| intelligence for years. Real AI is quite fascinating and in | | | | applications mentioned on the website) but it scores |
| many ways entirely different to what I expected. | | | | points for being one of the coolest uses of technology |
| Science fiction has built up the idea of artificial | | | | I've ever seen. You can see some videos of ASIMO in |
| intelligence for years. Giving machines intelligence often | | | | action here: |
| spells the end of mankind as they then rise up against | | | | From what I can tell ASIMO isn't intended to be a |
| their creators and violently free themselves from | | | | particularly human robot beyond superficial levels. He |
| oppression. There are cautionary tales such as in the | | | | doesn't exhibit emotion or learn outside of his |
| film "Spider Man 2" in which the robotic arms of Dr. | | | | constraints (he can learn areas and navigate them etc. |
| Octavius start controlling his brain thus forcing him to | | | | but you couldn't just sit down and teach him to play the |
| perform actions of benefit to them. I've never really | | | | piano without getting in and doing some serious |
| had an interest in artificial intelligence until recently when | | | | reprogramming). He's not going to be fooling anyone |
| I started studying the very basics at university. The | | | | into believing that he's human any time soon. |
| only AI Science Fiction that's ever actually interested | | | | The Turing Test is a measure of Artificial Intelligence |
| me was 'Blade Runner' and its novel, 'Do Androids | | | | that was created by Alan Turing. He stated that the |
| Dream of Electric Sheep?' written by Philip K. Dick. The | | | | question of whether or not machines could think was |
| subtext of the story deals with AI becoming | | | | too vague, and proposed a test that was more |
| self-aware but still unaware of its true nature, a | | | | specific. His test, without going into too much detail, |
| concept that interested me greatly. Real AI is quite | | | | involved trying to get a computer to fool people into |
| fascinating and in many ways entirely different to what | | | | believing that it was human. The people would type a |
| I expected. | | | | question into a console and receive a response from |
| To start with, what exactly is AI? defines it as follows: | | | | the computer on the other side. While there has been |
| 1. The ability of a computer or other machine to | | | | much work done on systems trying to pass the Turing |
| perform those activities that are normally thought to | | | | test, none of them have succeeded yet. There has |
| require intelligence. | | | | also been research done into creating machines that |
| 2. The branch of computer science concerned with | | | | can exhibit emotions. However, we're still a long way |
| the development of machines having this ability. | | | | off from seeing a machine that can appear to be alive. |
| If you take a look at this you may notice that the field | | | | The early excitement over AI led to developers trying |
| of AI is actually far broader than many people give it | | | | to create a generic reasoning problem solver that |
| credit for. Even the Google search engine can be said | | | | could search through a mass of knowledge that it has |
| to incorporate some of the research done in AI. The | | | | acquired and find solutions to any problem that was |
| definition of AI and intelligence itself sometimes varies | | | | thrown at it. Unfortunately this proved almost |
| but it's probably safe to say that a simple explanation | | | | impossible in practice. Today's AI tends to focus on |
| is that if a machine exhibits a measure of intelligence in | | | | very specific problems and knowledge areas. Expert |
| some area it can be called AI. | | | | Systems are programs that are "Experts" in a specific |
| The AI of movies is usually entirely self aware, | | | | field and can answer queries related to only that field. |
| emotive, and for all intents and purposes 'alive'. It is | | | | Their applications include medical diagnosis, credit card |
| capable of learning, reasoning, explaining and deceiving. | | | | application, and other fields where data is to be |
| The AI I've experienced (and this is very basic, | | | | analyzed. |
| scratching only the surface of the depth of studies into | | | | I haven't even begun to explore the true extent of AI in |
| AI) is far more specialized, focusing on just one aspect | | | | this article, but maybe I've piqued your interest. If you |
| of a problem that could potentially be much larger. | | | | want to look into it further, try reading the Wikipedia |
| There are various areas of research being carried out | | | | (free on-line encyclopedia) entry and maybe |
| into creating the humanoid machines of science fiction, | | | | downloading something like Prolog to have a go and |
| but as yet most are still restricted to the realms of the | | | | see what real AI is like. I find it quite interesting because |
| imagination. One very impressive piece of technology | | | | it involves a similar mindset to programming as you |
| is the Honda ASIMO project. This project has created | | | | attempt to break a problem down enough for a |
| a humanoid robot with some remarkable features. I'm | | | | computer to understand it, but of course the actual |
| not entirely sure if there's really a practical use for this | | | | implementation is very different. |