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By Mark Wherry...
When you think of artificial
intelligence, do you
immediately think of the phrase, "take me to your leader!"?
And, if you do, is that all you think of?! Does it conjure up
images of sci-fi movies that you are are ashamed to admit you
have watched? You may be surprised to find out how much more
there is to it.
A dictionary will tell you that artificial intelligence
"is the ability of an artificial mechanism to exhibit
intelligent behaviour", ie. a computer. But it is more than
just that, artificial intelligence means giving a computer the
ability to think for itself, to make choices of it's own
accord, and to look at all the information and make a decision.
The term artificial intelligence was coined in 1956 by
John McCarthy of MIT. He defined it as "the science of making
computers do things which if done by men would require
intelligence." This was at a summer workshop and others who
attended included Allen Newell, Herbert Simon, Marvin Minsky
and Oliver Selfridge. Early work in artificial intelligence
included attempts to simulate the neural networks of the brain
with numerically modelled nerve cells called perceptrons.
Success was limited due to the great complexity of the problem,
but interest was revived in 1980, and has continued into the
1990's with new advancements in technology. In the late 1950's
and into the early 1960's, Newell, Simon and J.C. Shaw offered
a "logical theorist" computer program, and introduced symbolic
processing. So, instead of building systems based on numbers,
they attempted to build systems that manipulated symbols.
Their approach was powerful and is fundamental to most work in
artificial intelligence today. In this method knowledge is
understood by rules, for example, "If X is a bird, then X can
fly." If such artificial intelligence system is told that a
robin is a bird, then it will tell you that a robin can fly.
However, even with these basic principles of reasoning,
isn't there a danger of a computer that could think for itself,
what if it went out of control? Such a system might start
killing people, or decide not to do something we needed it to
do, surely it is better to stick with our current ideas where
we control the computers and not vica-versa.
But does this mean that we are afraid that we might
create an entity that WE cannot control, is that not selfish on
our part? Aren't we already heavily dependant on computers,
imagine if there was a power cut, what would happen in offices,
libraries, schools, banks or other businesses, the world would
come to a stand still. Is this not already computers
controlling us? We have already become too dependant on them
to manage without them. But surely it is better to explore all
of the possibilities, imagine if our artificial intelligence
could then be recreated in a robot, then it could help us with
many other tasks than just thinking. The theory of automata
deals with the fundamental behavioural principles of automatic
machines. It provides the theoretical foundations for
automated processes in which sensors and detectors replace
human sense organs, actuators powered by electric motors or
hydraulic forces replace human muscles, and microprocessors
replace the human brain. it could eventually be another human.
Do we really need another human and even if such a device
is created will it just turn out to be another Frankenstein?
It is true that we have become dependant on computers, but
people always managed without them before. Also, there is a
difference between dependency and being dictated to and how can
we be sure that artificial intelligence in human form will be
all bells and whistles what if there is just one problem that
isn't ironed out? We have seen consequences of these thoughts
portrayed in such films like "Terminator" where robots are
trying to exterminate human life, isn't it worth exploring all
of the possibilities?
It is not fair to always associate artificial intelligence
with computers taking over the world, if it were possible to
create such a device it could be programmed with information
not to 'kill people' and if a fault occurred it could just
quietly shut itself down. But perhaps this is looking too far
into the future. In 1936, Alan Turing, an English
mathematician, systemized automata theory by developing, on
paper, a model for the digital computer. He proved that his
"universal formula" could solve virtually any mathematical or
logical problem that could be formulated in a logical manner.
He also showed that certain types of mathematical problems were
beyond even his method. In my view I would call this process
linear artificial intelligence as the thinking has to start at
one point, work through a series of processes and come to the
end. The problem is that it can't jump around, working out
different parts at a time, or thinking of other things at the
same time. This would require what I would call non-linear
artificial intelligence, in other words thinking that didn't
have to go in a straight line or have a starting and finishing
point. Thinking that could be free like a human brain. But, at
present we have simple examples of artificial intelligence in
everyday life, such as computer chess games; where the computer
has to view the consequences of each possible move, likewise in
problem solving; for example, a program that can solve
anagrams, or in complex databases; examples of which are in the
field of medical or mechanical diagnostic where the computer
assists a person in deducing what is wrong with something. As
we all know, such systems are invaluable to us, so why do we
fear or condemn future development or achievements with this
technology, and why do some people disbelieve that computers
with a mind of their own is possible.
Alot of people when asked about such matters express the
opinion that through further developments in this area more
people will loose their jobs, and this is true. Isn't it
better to have people employed doing jobs rather than a
machine? I would think so. The problem is that if there were
ten people doing a job, they could be replaced by a computer
and one person to maintain it, and that person could be
maintaining lots of computers, and nowadays he could be
controlling it on the other side of the world using a telephone
line on the internet.
One of the biggest problems with artificial intelligence
is the amount of work, time, money and effort it takes to
create a perfect artificially intelligent system and no one has
yet managed it, because it is so complex. Alan Turing, a
mathematician who wrote many papers in this field devised a
vigorous test which any machine must go through if it is to be
named as artificially intelligent. This test was named after
him so it is known as the "Turing" test, and, to date nothing
has passed. To give you an idea of how complex such a program
would need to be, here is an example. When a robot tried to
build a tower of bricks it had difficulty because it just
dropped each brick from the same place because it didn't
understand how to put each brick on top of each other. That
anecdote is actually true and taken from the book, "The Dream
Machine". It illustrates that every human concept and ability
must be programmed in order for it to learn. And this is one
of the main problems in current ways of thinking in artificial
intelligence, how do you write a computer program that can
learn?
Because no machine has passed the "Turing" test yet,
doesn't mean that no machine will ever pass it, we just have to
wait for the next generation of technology. Already new
products and technologies are being developed we just have to
see what happens. At present all computer chips use silicon,
and because silicon is a metal and conducts electricity none of
the paths in a chip can cross because there would be a short
circuit. However, scientists are developing new chips which
use light instead of silicon, and the paths of light may cross
without causing any damage. This means chips will work faster,
but not just faster, they will work at the speed of light! To
give an example, with silicon if you wanted to travel from
London, to Birmingham, you might have to go via America,
however, with light you could travel straight to
Birmingham.........Now, just think of that speed increase for a
moment, it is incredible. And, of course, faster chips mean a
computer can do more calculations in the same amount of time.
I would agree that writing the program for artificial
intelligence is difficult, but not impossible. All that is
needed (theoretically) is a complex database program, and as
the computer does things this database is updated and then at
every decision the computer has to make it searches through its
database to find a solution, much like a human will. A program
to achieve this is really just a complex continuation of simple
artificial intelligence programs we have already like problem
solvers such as spell checkers and anagram solvers. In the
instance of anagram solvers the computer has a dictionary of
words which it has learnt and then unscrambles the word and
then checks the word against the dictionary it has already
learnt and reports to the user when a match is found.
How long should we wait for the technology to achieve
this, and do we really need it? Infact today several scientist
are beginning to question whether the usefulness of artificial
intelligence is being over done. Is such a system, when it
arrives going to be worth all the money that was spent
developing it? What happens if we do get it, what next, how
can it be kept under control? We may be told that it will be
safe and that it could be programmed not to harm anyone but if
this program is evolving and the computer is rewriting it's
rules how can it be stopped from evolving out of the rules it
was given by humans. If we are comparing intelligences humans
have learnt to kill why can't an artificial intelligence learn
to ?
How long we wait is irrelevant in the long term, how long
do we wait for anything? How long is a piece of string? If we
have an artificial intelligence then it would be able to do
anything our intelligence would be able to. Give it tools in
which to operate with ie. hands etc.... then it would be as
capable as any human and be able to do any job. If we created
something like an intelligence then we would be able to control
it and it could be written with fail safes so if it could be
programmed with things it couldn't learn. This would spoil the
evolution a bit, but would enable us to keep control.
So what is your opinion? Does it really matter on what
our intelligence is based, whether it be carbon or silicon? I
don't think so. It is easy for anybody to say it is not
possible but a hundred years ago if you'd of been told about
the microwave oven, would you of believed it? With that in
mind today we have technology people wouldn't of even dreamt
about a hundred years ago, so it is difficult for us to know
what will happen in the next a hundred years.
Will artificial intelligence ever surpass our own?
I think that artificial intelligence
will eventually equal our own and yes, artificial intelligence,
when it gets to that level will be able to surpass our own
because where as we are one body a computer can be a network of
bodies. And, each network could be linked to other networks to
provide us with the ultimate intelligence right into the year
3000!
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