Lifeboat Foundation

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The Houston Astros’ José Altuve steps up to the plate on a 3–2 count, studies the pitcher and the situation, gets the go-ahead from third base, tracks the ball’s release, swings … and gets a single up the middle. Just another trip to the plate for the three-time American League batting champion.

Could a robot get a hit in the same situation? Not likely.

Continue reading “Helping robots remember: Hyperdimensional computing theory could change the way AI works” »

The Vatican is hosting a 2-day conference on the impact of robotics and AI on humanity.

A 2-day conference focusing on the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on humanity, that began in the Vatican on Thursday, is being organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

By Robin Gomes

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Ford Motor Company, ones of America’s oldest companies, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning in many ways from the supply chain to production to used car sales to self-driving vehicles. The company prioritizes technology, and this focus is one reason it’s leading the path to the future.

From Watson to Sophia, who are the artificially intelligent robot personas of today, and what can they tell us about our future?

Siri. Alexa. Cortana. These familiar names are the modern-day Girl Fridays making everyone’s life easier. These virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence (AI) bring to life the digital tools of the information age. One of the subtle strategies designers use to make it easier for us to integrate AI into our lives is “anthropomorphism” - the attribution of human-like traits to non-human objects. However, the rise of AI with distinct personalities, voices, and physical forms is not as benign as it might seem. As futurists who are interested in the impacts of technology on society, we wonder what role human-like technologies play in achieving human-centred futures.

For example, do anthropomorphized machines enable a future wherein humanity can thrive? Or, do human-like AIs foreshadow a darker prognosis, particularly in relation to gender roles and work? This article looks at a continuum of human-like personas that give a face to AI technology. We ask: what does it mean for our collective future that technology is increasingly human-like and gendered? And, what does it tell us about our capacity to create a very human future?

The Women of AI

Continue reading “Fembots vs. HAL: Who are the people of AI?” »

In their never-ending quest for increased efficiency, many farmers are now turning to agricultural robots to cut down on operation costs. But can automation give agriculture the boost it needs to meet the demands of 9 billion people?

What happens when a man is merged with a computer or a robot? This is the question that Professor Kevin Warwick and his team at the department of Cybernetics, University of Reading in the UK have been trying to answer for a number of years.

• h+ Magazine Current Issue
• Here Come The Neurobots
• The Artificial Hippocampus
• EPOC Neuroheadset

There are many ways to look at this problem. There is the longer term prospect of freeing the mind from the limitations of the brain by uploading it in digital form, potentially onto a computer and/or robotic substrate (see the h+ interview with Dr. Bruce Katz, Will We Eventually Upload Our Minds?). There is also a shorter term prospect at a much more limited scale — a robot controlled by human brain cells could soon be wandering around Professor Warwick’s UK labs.

An ever-increasing number of research groups are developing tiny robots, capable of performing targeted drug-delivery inside the body. One of the latest such devices incorporates a flapping whale-flukes-like tail, along with wings that fold up or down as needed.

Decades after Isaac Asimov first wrote his laws for robots, their ever-expanding role in our lives requires a radical new set of rules, legal and AI expert Frank Pasquale warned on Thursday.

The world has changed since sci-fi author Asimov in 1942 wrote his three rules for robots, including that they should never harm humans, and today’s omnipresent computers and algorithms demand up-to-date measures.

According to Pasquale, author of “The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms Behind Money and Information”, four new legally-inspired rules should be applied to robots and AI in our daily lives.

Continue reading “New laws of robotics needed to tackle AI: expert” »