AI is Coming!

Robotics/Computer Science:
Researchers in artificial intelligence aim to create machines that think. Science is still at its early stage on this path and nowhere close to designing machines that are self-aware or robots like seen in science-fiction movies. As Michio Kaku puts it: "the smartest machines today are about as smart as cock-roaches." However, there has been some amazing progress. A machine was able to beat the world's best chess player at chess and many machines can perform actions that were impossible not that long ago, such as walk up and down stairs or dance.

"The concept of ultrasmart computers--machines with "greater than human intelligence"--was dubbed "The Singularity" in a 1993 paper by the computer scientist and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge. He argued that the acceleration of technological progress had led to "the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth." This thesis has long struck a chord here in Silicon Valley.

Artificial intelligence is already used to automate and replace some human functions with computer-driven machines. These machines can see and hear, respond to questions, learn, draw inferences and solve problems. But for the Singulatarians, A.I. refers to machines that will be both self-aware and superhuman in their intelligence, and capable of designing better computers and robots faster than humans can today. Such a shift, they say, would lead to a vast acceleration in technological improvements of all kinds."

"The Coming Superbrain" The New York Times via CNET
The Coming Superbrain


Will the Machines take over?