ScienceComputer Science

Artificial Advancement

By Dan Press
As the course of human discovery continues to move toward the future, there is one field that will undoubtedly be replete with as many dangers, as new discoveries. Artificial intelligence, and the technologies which further it, can be both hailed as extraordinary scientific progress, and gravely feared as the first step in the eventual downfall of humanity. Creating a computer that can simulate logical reasoning, or use its facial recognition software to catch a criminal, is a far cry from a fully functional computer matrix that is just as capable of conducting strings of complex calculations as it is of feeling sad, happy or angry. While it would be foolhardy to try and restrict the growth of this quickly expanding field, it would also be dearly irresponsible to think we can create machines to think like humans, without developing the inherent flaws of the human condition, namely greed, anger, hate and the desire to preserve one’s sentience at any cost.

Recently, the advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics have been growing by extraordinary leaps. Currently, researchers at Professor Shigeki Sugano’s laboratory at Japan’s Waseda University have been endeavoring to develop the Wamoeba, a robotic creation endowed with artificial intelligence and the free will to determine its own reaction to an arbitrarily introduced stimuli. The ultimate goal of the project is to be able to show the Wamoeba something the average person would find soft, or delicate and have the Wamoeba identify it as such. Currently the project has reached the algorithmic stage of development, where it is able to interpret the touch of a person, and respond with one of three preprogrammed color-based responses. In essence, these scientists are trying to give their creation the ability to receive sensory inputs, and react appropriately, moving one step closer to bridging the gap between those with sentience and those without.

At the Tokyo University of Science, researchers are well into their creation of a robot capable of recreating the entire spectrum of human emotion. Affectionately called Saya, this robot was created to accurately simulate a human head, including eyes, a mouth, silicone-based skin and even a wig for hair. Saya uses air compressors and artificial muscles to simulate the facial expression of an emotional response in much the same way humans do. Eventually, the development team hopes to create a voice recognition program and video monitoring software which will give the robotic head the ability to simulate it’s human counterpart in almost every conceivable functioning manner.

In keeping with the human fascination of creating serviceable facsimiles, a young Japanese student, Tomotaka Takahashi, was able to develop a functioning robot capable of walking both forward and backward, moving side to side and swinging its arms. The ten-inch-tall creation, referred to as Magdan, was purchased by a local toy company, and will most likely be entertaining children all over Japan at some point during the next two years.

Clearly we are on the verge of being able to create a form of artificial intelligence the likes of which has only been conceived by the foremost science fiction writers of our time. Gene Roddenberry’s Data, a human like android from the Star Trek Universe capable of reproducing the entire human experience in every detail, is closer to becoming a reality today, then most would have thought possible.

While the advancements in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence are clearly laudable, there is a certain level of caution inherently linked to these intellectual breakthroughs. If even an untrained student is capable of successfully entering the field of robotics, we have to wonder where the future of the field will lead. If the logical course of technological advancement is pursued, and more and more people have access to the new technology, then won’t we be enabling all members of humanity to create artificial people in their own image? With all the possible good these artificially intelligent creations can do for the world, is it not irresponsible to consider the opposite end of the spectrum and all the possible evil that may come with them? After all, is a robot not endowed with the moral compass of those who programmed it?

Recently, a team of specialists working at the Rensselaer Institute’s Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning Lab have endeavored to do just that. In an effort to discover the true nature of absolute amorality, these researchers have programmed a computer simulation to most closely model their definition of pure evil. Nicknamed simply “E,” this program is designed to exist in a virtual world, and explore all aspects of its preordained wickedness. Equipped with lifelike sinister eyes and a menacing scowl, the simulation works by receiving the parameters of a situation, determining an appropriately evil course of action, and lastly justifying its actions. By exploring and analyzing these justifications the Rensselaer team is hoping to gain an invaluable insight into the very epicenter of the human moral compass. However, while the purpose of the experiment may seem noble, it is impossible to ignore the far reaching ramifications of programming a simulation to be purely heinous. Given the previous examples discussed, it is clear that this may be yet another step to endowing our technology with not only the ability, but also the desire to act independently of the designers intent. This raises the question, are we perverting the work of those who came before, and mutating valuable discoveries into something potentially harmful and dangerous?

Humanity’s fascination with artificial intelligence is hardly new or spontaneous. Unbelievably, some of our top minds have been toying with the ideas of simulated human intelligence for over half a century. Widely hailed as both a leader and pioneer in the field, Alan Turing (pictured), is often considered the father of artificial intelligence, as well as modern computer science as a whole.

Turing, a classic example of a man who’s brilliance was ahead of its time, began his illustrious career aiding the English in their efforts to break the German ciphers used to advance the Nazi war effort during World War II. Turing is, in fact, credited with designing the British Bombe, the machine which essentially turned the tide of the war. Until Turing’s breakthrough, the Nazis were using their Enigma device to generate a series of random codes and ciphers, which were among the most complex the world had ever seen. This extremely intricate and complex code enabled Germany to send orders all over the world, with minimal fear of being discovered. Now, enter Alan Turing. Turing, a young man who was denied access to his first choice of colleges because of his refusal to expend as much energy studying the classics as he did studying science and mathematics, was both fascinated and vexed by the Enigma.

After hours upon hours of painstaking work, Turing eventually discovered, analyzed and understood what made the Enigma machine work, and, more importantly, how to counteract it. His breakthroughs led to the construction of the British Bombe, the device which neutralized the Nazi advantage and shifted the course of the war, as well as human history.

After his involvement with the war effort, Turing took the valuable experience gained in the fields of logical reasoning and electronics and turned his attention to “thinking machines.” The first example of this came in his fascination, along with that of colleague Jack Good, with a chess playing program. While this program may be standard on the lap top of every child today, at the time it was a revolutionary and somewhat frightening notion. Good and Turing postulated that by creating a large network of decision trees, you could allow the device to examine all the possible outcomes and identify the most advantageous solution. Of course, Turing began to follow the logical progression of his thoughts, and soon became utterly enamored with the idea of a man-made device capable of reasoning, and even intelligence.

Turing flirted with the ideas of creating an artificial brain, and even got as far as to design and create aspects of his “universal machine,” capable of arbitrarily alternating between mathematical computations, algebraic reasoning, or even chess playing at the input of a single command. Unfortunately the course of his life, as well as the secrecy surrounding his previous work, pulled him away from the field of artificial intelligence. However, his previous discoveries enabled many other bright and upcoming pioneers to take his place.

Methods and theories of creating faster and better computational machines continued to advance, setting the stage for the modern computer revolution. Our greatest minds were able to push the limits of the field, to the point we have now reached. From Turing’s first musings about a chess playing machine, to the incredible interconnected web of computer technology which followed, to the incredible advances in robotics we see today, a great deal of advancement has taken place in a very short amount of time.

One is forced to wonder how Turing might have viewed these advancements. Certainly, he would be proud of the fact that we have come so far, so fast. However, Turing did come from a time in which the man used the work of the machine to assist him in finding his own answers. Over the past fifty years that paradigm has shifted to a world in which the man inputs information into a machine which then deduces the answers for him. This is clearly a slippery slope, one which must be tread with the utmost of care. For when you create a machine to do the work of a man, then are you not devaluing the unique contributions that the man brings to society as a whole?