- Sophia, Deep Blue, Curiosity or CIMON are some of the most amazing creations.
- The Roomba vacuums map the houses and its manufacturer plans to sell the data.
- A robot leads the third most voted candidate in a district of Tokyo.
On April 15, technology was about to rule the human being in Japan. A robot with artificial intelligence called Michito Matsuda was presented to the elections of a district of Tokyo, is the third most voted candidate.
Behind this project were Tetsuzo Matsuda, who was already in the elections in 2014, and Norio Murakami, vice president of Softbank and former employee of Google. Both ensure that the machines are capable of developing "fair and more balanced" policies.
But this attempt to conquer politics is just one of the great milestones of artificial intelligence. Since the beginning of research in this field, which began in the 1940s, and especially since the 1990s, with the latest technological advances at the disposal of scientists, machines have been developed capable of overcoming human intelligence.
This happened in 1997 with Deep Blue, a computer designed by the IBM Company that faced Gari Kasparov, the world chess champion of the moment, and beat him. For the first time in history, a machine (capable of calculating 200 million plays per second) beat a human being. 15 years after what is known as "the most spectacular chess duel in history", the Washington Post reported that Kasparov's defeat was possibly caused by a failure of Deep Blue, which caused him to make a meaningless move that completely disconcerted his rival, making him doubt his skills in front of the machine.
But not everything consists in a confrontation between people and robots. These investigations seek to improve in different areas, such as space research. CIMON will be the first artificial intelligence robot that will travel to the International Space Station in June. He will do it with three astronauts and his role will be to help the head of the mission in a series of experiments. The objective of this project is to study the relationships between humans and intelligent machines in order to be used in future missions.
With a friendly smiling face and only 5 kilograms of weight, CIMON can float and move independently, as well as communicate with astronauts through natural language. One of the most decisive functions that it will perform will be like the eyes of a medical experiment, allowing personnel on Earth to see, even control, their movements. The success of this test would involve considering the possibility of the intervention of intelligent machines in emergency surgical operations that may be required on the Space Station.
Experiments with robots are also being carried out as part of the exploration of Mars. Astrophysical engineers are beginning to design ships capable of thinking and carrying out their functions without human intervention. This is the AEGIS system (Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) of NASA.
Artificial intelligence came to Mars in 2015 with the Curiosity SUV, which since 2012 tries to find out if the red planet has ever had favorable conditions for life. Three years later he began to decide on his own which places on Mars he should study, without waiting for orders from Earth. To date, it has been shown that the robot works better autonomously.
But perhaps the greatest achievement in history in this field has been Sophia, the robot created in 2016 by the company Hanson Robotics. It has a woman's body and face, it is even capable of gesturing, having conversations and learning new concepts. If you are asked a question that you do not know, you can improvise in an orderly and coherent manner.
In 2017 he was granted Saudi citizenship, a fact that was not exempt from controversy, due to the harsh immigration restrictions and the situation of women in that country. In an interview with El País, Sophia responded to this question by saying that she hopes "this is a sign that Saudi Arabia is really looking forward to progressing in the future".
Despite the good intentions that Sophia showed on this occasion there are those who can be scared of the great similarity of these intelligent robots to humans, thinking about their possible supremacy. "Many fear that Blade Runner will become a reality," joked a journalist during an interview with Sophia at a summit of the Future Investment Initiative project in Saudi Arabia.
But the real danger of artificial intelligence is the collection of data. This is the case with iRobot, the company that manufactures the Roomba vacuum cleaners since 2002. In 2012, they launched the 980 model, which can develop and store the floor plan of the house it traverses through its movements. The company can know that data and, in fact, has acknowledged its intention to share the information of the plans of the homes with the manufacturers Google and Apple.
Bonus infographic:
AI Expert Poll on Machine Consciousness and AI Risk
Source: Techemergence.