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SALT LAKE CITY -- In the past week or so, several developments in computer technology have occurred which are stunning in terms of what a life-like level artificial intelligence, even artificial life, has risen to.
Terrifyingly for those who have seen the "Terminator" movies, one of these developments is actually called Skynet. Perhaps that franchise was really a series of documentaries from the future which James Cameron simply took all the credit for. Either way, what humans are doing with artificiality is pretty amazing.
- Predicting the future: A supercomputer called Nautilus SGIcrunched information from over 100 million news articles from Libya and Egypt which were published prior to the outbreak of the revolutions in each country. What came out was a prediction of declining national sentiment that would indicate oncoming conflict. Though the analysis by Nautilus SGI was, of course, done retroactively so as to compare results with what actually happened, nevertheless it seemed to predict accurately that the situation could lead to conflict. Analysis from the U.S. and other countries failed to predict the revolutionary fervor that was building in each country.
- Synthetic journalism: Computers can now write totally convincing sports news articles which read not like a mess of information compiled together, but rather like well-constructed and even entertaining writing. Narrative Science, a company that was ironically and scarily started by actual journalists, endeavors to be able to automate news stories at an incredible rate. About a minute after, say, a sporting event finished, the software can produce a story based not only on game stats, but on all previous information related to the team, game, player/players - in short anything of relevance to the story. Here's an actual sample:
"Wisconsin appears to be in the driver's seat en route to a win, as it leads 51-10 after the third quarter. Wisconsin added to its lead when Russell Wilson found Jacob Pedersen for an eight-yard touchdown to make the score 44-3 ..."
Not bad for a cold and lifeless machine filled with nothing but electrons and silicon.
The software does a good job with anything involving a lot of numbers and statistics, but the folks Narrative Science hope to be able to write a story automatically about anything. Even a computer generated news story about how computers can now generate news stories.
- Skynet: This isn't so much new news as it is just weirdly scary and ironic that scientists choose to keep naming things after a computer that takes over the world in the future, even if it is a fictional computer. The International Center for Radio Astronomy Research is running a project called Skynet that intends to cloudsource research radio astronomy data. People from around the world will loan the downtime on their computer to the center to process the enormous amount of information they are collecting. Which is to say many people will be letting Skynet take over their computer just before it becomes sentient. This isn't the first Skynet - in fact, it is also the name of a British military satellite system dating back to the late ‘60s. Which is still in no way comforting.
- Autonomous cars and robots: German researchers let a car drive them around Berlin for 80 km during a public demonstration. They just sat and watched the controls. In fact, this car, called MadeInGermany, is actually licensed to drive around Berlin (with the researchers in tow, of course). The car has already logged thousands of miles, and can tell you where the you can get the best leberkäse sandwich in the city. Probably. Meanwhile, Cornell researchers are developing robotic arms that are capable of learning about the environment around them and manipulating it based on what they learn. For instance, it can pick up a plate and figure out that it should be put flat on the table, but upright in a dishwasher. And that a mug and a pitcher should both be held by a handle. And that a knife should be held by the handle while threatening your human user (I assume).
- Inorganic life: Scientists at the University of Glasgow recently published a paper showing that they had created inorganic cells, called iCHELLs, that mimic many of the properties of living cells - only without using any of the carbon based funny business that makes ordinary life like humans possible. iCHELLs use only metallic chemical compounds. They are capable of selectively letting in certain molecules, allow for chemical reactions to be performed in a specific order, and display chirality (structures mirrored like your hands are - an essential feature of life at the chemical level). In short, we can now produce machines that predict the future, write the news, dive cars, wield kitchenware, and study the stars. It's only a matter of time before they apply these useful lessons to taking over the country and putting us all to work in ore mines so they can produce more of themselves. Or possibly before they don't need us flesh bags for anything at all anymore. Email: dnewlin@ksl.com
