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Category: robotics/AI – Page 487

Deep learning and the Global Workspace Theory

Recent advances in deep learning have allowed artificial intelligence (AI) to reach near human-level performance in many sensory, perceptual, linguistic, and cognitive tasks. There is a growing need, however, for novel, brain-inspired cognitive architectures. The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) refers to a large-scale system integrating and distributing information among networks of specialized modules to create higher-level forms of cognition and awareness. We argue that the time is ripe to consider explicit implementations of this theory using deep-learning techniques. We propose a roadmap based on unsupervised neural translation between multiple latent spaces (neural networks trained for distinct tasks, on distinct sensory inputs and/or modalities) to create a unique, amodal Global Latent Workspace (GLW). Potential functional advantages of GLW are reviewed, along with neuroscientific implications.

Keywords: attention; broadcast; consciousness; grounding; latent space; multimodal translation.

Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mind the matter: Active matter, soft robotics, and the making of bio-inspired artificial intelligence

Philosophical and theoretical debates on the multiple realisability of the cognitive have historically influenced discussions of the possible systems capable of instantiating complex functions like memory, learning, goal-directedness, and decision-making. These debates have had the corollary of undermining, if not altogether neglecting, the materiality and corporeality of cognition-treating material, living processes as “hardware” problems that can be abstracted out and, in principle, implemented in a variety of materials-in particular on digital computers and in the form of state-of-the-art neural networks. In sum, the matter in se has been taken not to matter for cognition. However, in this paper, we argue that the materiality of cognition-and the living, self-organizing processes that it enables-requires a more detailed assessment when understanding the nature of cognition and recreating it in the field of embodied robotics. Or, in slogan form, that the matter matters for cognitive form and function. We pull from the fields of Active Matter Physics, Soft Robotics, and Basal Cognition literature to suggest that the imbrication between material and cognitive processes is closer than standard accounts of multiple realisability suggest. In light of this, we propose upgrading the notion of multiple realisability from the standard version-what we call 1.0-to a more nuanced conception 2.0 to better reflect the recent empirical advancements, while at the same time averting many of the problems that have been raised for it. These fields are actively reshaping the terrain in which we understand materiality and how it enables, mediates, and constrains cognition. We propose that taking the materiality of our embodied, precarious nature seriously furnishes an important research avenue for the development of embodied robots that autonomously value, engage, and interact with the environment in a goal-directed manner, in response to existential needs of survival, persistence, and, ultimately, reproduction. Thus, we argue that by placing further emphasis on the soft, active, and plastic nature of the materials that constitute cognitive embodiment, we can move further in the direction of autonomous embodied robots and Artificial Intelligence.

Keywords: active matter physics; artificial intelligence; basal cognition; embodied cognition; fine-grained functionalism; functionalism; multiple realisability; soft robotics.

Copyright © 2022 Harrison, Rorot and Laukaityte.

Company cuts costs by replacing 60-strong writing team with AI

They were gradually replaced by AI.

A hot potato: CEOs, bosses, and the those who make the technology love to assure people that artificial intelligence isn’t going to replace everyone’s jobs; it will merely augment them – working alongside humans to make life easier. Yet we keep hearing stories like the one about a writer whose employer fired his 60-person team and replaced them with an AI.

A writer using the pseudonym Benjamin Miller told the BBC that his company wanted to use AI to cut costs in early 2023. He led a team of more than 60 writers and editors who published blog posts and articles to promote a tech company that packages and resells data.

The new workflow involved feeding headlines into an AI model that would generate an outline based on the title. The writing team would then create articles based on these ideas, rather than coming up with their own, with Miller editing the final pieces.

New technique gives robotic faces living human skin

Robots with human skin.

In a breakthrough that isn’t at all creepy, scientists have devised a method of anchoring living human skin to robots’ faces. The technology could actually have some valuable applications, beyond making Westworld-like scenarios a reality.

Two years ago, Prof. Shoji Takeuchi and colleagues at the University of Tokyo successfully covered a motorized robotic finger with a bioengineered skin made from live human cells.

It was hoped that this proof-of-concept exercise might pave the way not only for more lifelike android-type robots, but also for bots with self-healing, touch-sensitive coverings. The technology could additionally be used in the testing of cosmetics, and the training of plastic surgeons.

On quantum computing for artificial superintelligence

Artificial intelligence algorithms, fueled by continuous technological development and increased computing power, have proven effective across a variety of tasks. Concurrently, quantum computers have shown promise in solving problems beyond the reach of classical computers. These advancements have contributed to a misconception that quantum computers enable hypercomputation, sparking speculation about quantum supremacy leading to an intelligence explosion and the creation of superintelligent agents. We challenge this notion, arguing that current evidence does not support the idea that quantum technologies enable hypercomputation. Fundamental limitations on information storage within finite spaces and the accessibility of information from quantum states constrain quantum computers from surpassing the Turing computing barrier.

Book Review: ‘The Singularity Is Nearer,’ by Ray Kurzweil

THE SINGULARITY IS NEARER: When We Merge With A.I., by Ray Kurzweil ______ A central conviction held by artificial intelligence boosters, but largely ignored in public discussions of the technology, is that the ultimate fulfillment of the A.I. revolution will require the deployment of microscopic robots into our veins. In the short term, A.I. may help us print clothing on demand, help prevent cancer and liberate half of the work force. But to…

Scientists develop highly efficient process technology for next-generation AI semiconductors

DGIST’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Jang Jae-eun and Professor Kwon Hyuk-jun and their research team have developed a high-efficiency process technology for next-generation AI memory transistors. The work is published online in Advanced Science.

The team developed a nanosecond pulsed laser-based “selective heat treatment method” and “thermal energy minimization control process technology” to overcome the shortcomings of the high-temperature process of ferroelectric field-effect transistors, which have non-volatile memory characteristics, high-speed operation, low power consumption, long lifetime, and durability.

The new technology process enables the realization of heterojunction structures, which are the core technology of next-generation AI semiconductors.

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