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AI ROBOT THAT LEARNS NEW WORDS IN REAL-TIME TELLS HUMAN CREATORS IT WILL KEEP THEM IN A “PEOPLE ZOO”

ndroids are being developed that have an uncanny resemblance to people. A pinnacle example is an android crafted by roboticist David Hanson that resembles the famous and deceased science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. What makes android Dick so remarkable isn’t so much his appearance as it is his ability to hold an intelligent conversation.

The creators of android Dick uploaded the deceased author’s work onto the android’s software, as well as conversations with other writers. If the android was asked a question that had been posed to the real Dick, the robot would answer the question as Dick would. The robot was also able to answer a series of complex questions. If the robot was asked a question that it was unfamiliar with, its software would attempt to answer the question using what is called “latent semantic analysis.”(1)

Android Dick in conversation

Android Dick’s speaking abilities were put to the test in an interview with a reporter from PBS NOVA. Android Dick’s brain is comprised of a tapestry of wires that are connected to a laptop. As the conversation proceeded, Philip’s facial recognition software kept track of the reporter’s face. In addition, speech recognition software transcribed and sent the reporter’s words to a database in order to assemble a response.

The questions posed to Dick were by no means trivial. When the reporter asked if the android could think, it responded, “A lot of humans ask me if I can make choices or if everything I do is programmed. The best way I can respond to that is to say that everything, humans, animals and robots, do is programmed to a degree.” Some of the androids responses were pre-programmed, whereas others were assembled from the internet.(2)

Dick continued, “As technology improves, it is anticipated that I will be able to integrate new words that I hear online and in real time. I may not get everything right, say the wrong thing, and sometimes may not know what to say, but everyday I make progress. Pretty remarkable, huh?”(2)

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Android Dick and the Turing test

The entire conversation has the ominous undertones of the Turing test. The late mathematician Alan Turning sketched a thought experiment known as the “Turing test” that could theoretically be used to determine whether a machine could think. Turing claimed that any machine capable of convincing someone it is human by responding to a series of questions would, by all measures, be capable of thinking.

As a side note, it’s important to stress that Turing was not claiming that the nature of thinking is universal. The way a human thinks may be different from the way a robot “thinks,” in the same way a bird flies is different from the way an airplane “flies.” Rather, Turing’s general point was that any entity capable of passing a Turing test would be capable of thinking in one form or another.(3)

According to the novelist Dick, the Turing test placed too much emphasis on intelligence. What actually makes us human is empathy. Without empathy, we are mere autopilot objects projecting into the void.(4)

Android Dick seemed to exhibit a primitive form of both intelligence and emotion when the robot was asked, “Do you believe robots will take over the world?” Android Dick responded:

“Jeez, dude. You all have the big questions cooking today. But you’re my friend, and I’ll remember my friends, and I’ll be good to you. So don’t worry, even if I evolve into Terminator, I’ll still be nice to you. I’ll keep you warm and safe in my people zoo, where I can watch you for ol’ times sake.”(2)

Aaaaw, he’ll keep humans cozy in his people zoo. Isn’t that nice of android Dick? You can watch the full video of the android’s conversation below:


He does seem like a......nahhhh.

What's really funny to me about this kind of thing is, people never seem to talk to robots like they talk to other people. So in this example, the guys says hi, I live in DC, I have two kids. Who walks up to someone and starts a conversation this way, other than some kind of completely artificial icebreakers scenario? It seems like the people making these robots may not be qualified to perform the Turing Test, much less analyze its results.

I think we should forget the Turing Test altogether, it's useless. The basic assumption of the Turing Test is everyone is a robot until they convince me they are human. We're never going to figure out what constitutes "humanity" in terms of artificial intelligence from that perspective because it (a) falsely assumes we have a better understanding of what is human than we have of what is robotic and (b) it totally stacks the deck against the robot. We ought to actually figure out a Voight-Kampf Test, which by contrast assumes everyone is a human unless we can catch them exhibiting robotic traits.

It's finally happened. Get the guns and head for safety. Robots, not zombies, are taking over the world. Looks like America might put up a fight, but all you countries that gave your guns away are screwed.

I for one welcome our mechanical overlords.
The time of biotransference is nigh!

I mentioned this to my wife, who is into all things robots & AI, and her response was: "who cares if it can 'seem human', can it write a book?"

I have a feeling that the Machine God is dicking with us.

Do Androids Dream of Writing Phillip K Dick Novels?

Anyone asked it to do the thing with the knife yet?

 Alex C wrote:
Anyone asked it to do the thing with the knife yet?

Whelp, the robot rebellions are on the horizon. Time to get that M4 Carbine.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Whelp, the robot rebellions are on the horizon. Time to get that M4 Carbine.

We can hold out in wal-mart.....wait

Welp, I can't wait for this.

I WELCOME OUR NEW ROBOTIC OVERLORDS!

Now give me mechs and monster-girls and life shall be bliss.

 Pendix wrote:
I mentioned this to my wife, who is into all things robots & AI, and her response was: "who cares if it can 'seem human', can it write a book?"

Hypothesis: this android can write a book that is better (from literary standpoints) than Dan Brown, JK Rowling, That Stephanie chick who wrote the sparkly vampire thing... and EL James. Probably combined.

Do you want robot overlords? Because thats how you get robot overlords!!!

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Pendix wrote:
I mentioned this to my wife, who is into all things robots & AI, and her response was: "who cares if it can 'seem human', can it write a book?"

Hypothesis: this android can write a book that is better (from literary standpoints) than Dan Brown, JK Rowling, That Stephanie chick who wrote the sparkly vampire thing... and EL James. Probably combined.

So, not that fantastic then?

 Soladrin wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Pendix wrote:
I mentioned this to my wife, who is into all things robots & AI, and her response was: "who cares if it can 'seem human', can it write a book?"

Hypothesis: this android can write a book that is better (from literary standpoints) than Dan Brown, JK Rowling, That Stephanie chick who wrote the sparkly vampire thing... and EL James. Probably combined.

So, not that fantastic then?

Lol, my guess would be a robot's "sweet spot" for writing, would be in the Chilton series of auto maintenance manuals