Future Artificial Intelligence

Though the progress has not met earlier predictions, development of artificial intelligence is advancing.  Generally acknowledged as the seminal event for artificial intelligence as a field, McCarthy, Minsky, Rochester, and Shannon (1955) proposed a Dartmouth summer research project on artificial intelligence.  The study was based upon the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that they could be simulated by a machine.  For over 60 years research into artificial intelligence has sought to augment human reasoning and decision-making ability.  Artificial intelligence (AI) makes use of a broad assortment of integrated competencies to achieve systems that perceive their environment and inform the user, or take informed actions on behalf of the user, to maximize their probability of success.  Owing to the continuing development in smart phone, sensor, and miniaturization capability there has been a flourishing of wearable microelectronic, computing, and networked devices.  Within this wide ranging setting the proliferation of intelligent (smart) devices such as wearable technology supported by expert system modules will present further opportunities to meld Internet appliances with sense-making tools.

Extrapolating further, AI will begin to interface both autonomously and under user direction with the external sensor-rich environment, over time becoming increasingly familiar with the user’s preferences.  By monitoring the user’s daily activities, AI will learn the intimate details associated with the user’s life patterns.  When directed, AI will then assume the role for user identity representation in virtual reality scenarios.  The essence of the user’s personal history, developed and reflecting changes over time will become an enduring electronic identity legacy beyond the user’s biological lifetime, the accumulated data making a permanent contribution to larger public bodies of knowledge.

In the distant future, human and artificial life forms will merge, allowing the essence of humanity to progress beyond an inevitable terminal conclusion.  Within this scenario one question looms large:  Which life form would dominate?  Social and ethical forces will become predominate themes as humans determine the role and rights of artificial life in society, as well as the extent to which humans may assume artificial technology within their organic bodies.

I created a 30 second video and a 30 second audio file for my Animoto site at http://animoto.com/play/t1i76CPohsT5Ez2TvlmAmg

 

References

McCarthy, J., Minsky, M., Rochester, N., &  Shannon, C. (1955, August 31). A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence. Annals of Mathematics, 27(4), Publisher: AAAI American Association Of Artificial Intelligence, Pages: 1.