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AI (fwd)

"Web May Hold the Key to Achieving Artificial Intelligence"
Washington Post (09/06/02) P. A1; Cha, Ariana Eunjung; Drezen, Richard
A.

The controversy over artificial intelligence and how the Internet could
shape it has been re-ignited by the advent of "chatterbots" such as
Active Buddy's SmarterChild, a marketing tool that can "talk" to people
via real-time text messages and answer questions by tapping into the
Web's vast informational resources. A few such bots have progressed to
the point that they can pass the Turing test and convince people they
are actually human. Some experts worry that the ultimate goal of turning
the Internet into a "global brain" by developing the technology further
would give computers too much information and power, and lead to a "hive
mind" that erodes freedom and individual expression. However, several
challenges must be solved before such a goal is even possible: Computers
cannot easily read Web pages, and lack common sense. World Wide Web
Consortium director Tim Berners-Lee is trying to overcome the first
problem by leading an effort to link keywords and tags to text, sounds,
and images. Meanwhile, Push Singh of MIT's Media Lab and others are
trying to solve the common sense problem by building a "knowledge base"
in which volunteers contribute observations about commonsense behavior.
At the Free University of Brussels, scientists are leading an
international initiative to make computers understand how humans access
data online, thus allowing them to comprehend the interactions between
people, objects, and concepts. The work was pioneered by Old Dominion
University's Johan Bollen, who conceived of a program that studies how
people seek out information, and then streamlines the process.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43363-2002Sep5.html

 "A Theory of Evolution, for Robots"
Wired News (09/05/02); Sandhana, Lakshmi

Chalmers Institute of Technology researchers Krister Wolff and Peter
Nordin have conceived of a winged robot that can learn how to fly on its
own; such a design circumvents scientists' own lack of knowledge about
the mechanics of flight. The robot's creators turned to genetic
programming to generate the instructions fed into the machine that helps
it learn how to lift off. After being assessed, the most successful
liftoff instructions were paired up, while randomly swapping
instructions between these optimal pairs sired next-generation
"offspring" commands that were transmitted to the robot. Techniques that
the robot has learned include standing on its wings, pulling itself up
by grasping convenient objects, and a more effective flapping
methodology. The University of Reading's David Corne explains that
evolutionary computation is key to solving control problems, such as
what sequences of movements will allow a robot that is heavier than air
to lift off and stay airborne. Meanwhile, engineering difficulties--the
fast and flexible movement of joints--also need to be solved. The
barrier to developing effective flying robots is a lack of funding for
testing designs so that improved models can be developed, according to
Corne. Nordin believes that such robots could be in operation within
three years if enough funding is provided, and he also says that such
research is important if better-performing aircraft are to be developed.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,54900,00.html

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