We poke fun of Siri and pretend to get scared by Humanoid robots and make our neck hair stand up straight by watching quadrocopters do amazing things, but the truth is artificial intelligence is still pretty dumb. But that’s going to change! The rise of artificial intelligence is happening and they’re learning a lot more about us because we’re learning more about them. Sort of.
PBS’ always excellent Off Book series takes a look at AI and how we’re developing robots who can process things like vision, understand language and manipulate objects. The relationship and challenge in creating a robotic brain (or intelligence) is similar to how we’ve been able to create aeroplanes using a bird’s aerodynamics as an inspiration. PBS says:
Artificial intelligence is an ever evolving goal for researchers, and the object of endless fascination for writers, filmmakers, and the general public. But despite our best science fiction visions, creating digital intelligence is incredibly difficult. The universe is a very complicated place, and humans have had millions of years to evolve the ability to navigate and make sense of it. Contemporary attempts to create AI have us looking more at how our own brains work to see how a computer could simulate the core activities that create our intelligence. No matter how we get there, it is certain that artificial intelligence will have tremendous impact on our society and economy, and lead us down a path towards evolving our own definitions of humanity.
The future and all that. [PBS Off Book]