The Strongest AIs
by Laasya Aki
Many people believe that robots will eventually replace humans and the future will look somewhat like the Terminator series. In order to surpass humans, artificial intelligence (AI) must become strong. The concept of AI is to simulate human intelligence and natural human emotions in machines. One of the main goals of AI is to make and justify decisions in the purpose of achieving a specific goal. Today, only “weak AIs”, or “narrow AIs”, exist. These AIs are created for one purpose, like playing chess or assisting humans. Examples include Alexa, Strong AI, and True AI. The theoretical form of artificial intelligence is one that replicates human problem-solving, rationalizing, and planning (4). Artificial intelligence still has a long way to go before it can truly become strong, but scientists, mathematicians, and engineers are persistent. Here are some of the most advanced AIs today.
TX-GAIA
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory developed an AI supercomputer, the most powerful at any university (4). The TX-GAIA has many AI applications and will be used to train machine learning algorithms. Machine learning harnesses large sets of data and uses AI to develop patterns after analysis. It’s commonly used in search engines. The supercomputer can analyze data at speeds never seen before; speeding up the machine learning process. The TX-GAIA was also built to improve weather forecasting, designing synthetic data, and creating new materials (4). The Department of Defense is also partnering with MIT to use TX-GAIA and the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator to develop prototypes and conduct experiments.
Perlmutter
The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center’s Perlmutter is the newest in a string of supercomputers at Berkeley Lab (3). The supercomputer is named after Saul Permutter, for his groundbreaking work in astrophysics. “Permutter is designed to meet the emerging simulation, data analytics, and artificial intelligence requirements of the scientific community” (3). The supercomputer is capable of harnessing AI for deep learning, an AI function that deals with mimicking the inner workings of the human brain. This supercomputer is also incredibly energy efficient while maintaining a high computational power. Also, Perlmutter can run large scale simulations useful for almost every aspect of science, especially developing clean energy innovations.
Sophia
Hanson Robotics’ Sophia is the most advanced humanoid robot that harnesses AI. Sophia is described as a “personification of our dreams for the future of AI” (1). The robot’s unique combination of math, science, engineering, and artistry makes it “a human-crafted science fiction character” (1). Sophia specializes in human interaction. The humanoid robot’s AI allows it to recognize human gestures, emotional expressions, and human faces. Sophia also partially simulates human emotions. The AI is used for pure research and acts as a research computer; other times, it can imitate a human. This is why Sophia is deemed a “hybrid human-AI-intelligence” (1). Also, Sophia is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, making it the first robot to receive citizenship.
Conclusion
The robots, computers, and AI that exist today are nowhere near True AI. Artificial Intelligence has a long way to go before becoming Strong. But, scientists, mathematicians, and engineers are persistent and the day that AI becomes equivalent to the human mind will come.
~ Edited by Christian Mueth
References:
- https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/lincoln-laboratorys-new-ai-supercomputer-most-powerful-university
- https://www.nersc.gov/systems/perlmutter/
- https://perlmutter.carrd.co/
- https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/lincoln-laboratorys-new-ai-supercomputer-most-powerful-university
- https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/strong-ai
This article was originally published at the Teach-Technology Organization, Inc. online technology blog. I volunteer as a tech blog writer at this organization, which is dedicated to bridging the gap between seniors and technology. You can read this article (and many more) at the Teach Technology site.
tags: TeachTech - technology