Syahrani's Weblog

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Artificial Intelligence

Picture: Robot feature in I, robot

Imagine if people live in a world where there are several robots in their life. Would it ever happen in real life or is it just a science fiction? On one hand, some experts argue that it will happen. On the other hand, it is impossible to be happening. This article will slightly talk about the possibility of robots or machines to control the world.

Recently I watched a movie titled I, Robot. The setting of this movie is in 2035. It is a time when robots walk, serve and act the same as human being. In the beginning of this movie, there was a part when a robot runs carrying a purse and watched by a policeman. Naturally, if a police saw a person running with a purse, it means that he is a thief. As a result, the policeman chases the robot and finally catches it. Apparently, the robot was ordered by an elderly woman to take her purse which was left in her house (I, Robot, 2004).

People might say it is just a movie and its aim is to encourage people to believe in what the movie shows. That is what movies do. However, experts may say differently.

On July 20^th, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation held their program, Lateline, interviewed Professor Kevin Warwick, a professor of cybernetics at Reading University. From his point of view, it is possible for robots to replace what humans do. Moreover, robots can be trained to be more intelligent than humans. For a simple example, a calculator can count even faster than a human brain (Warwick, 2004, pp.1). Warwick emphasizes the case of the military equipment when soon we see jet-fighter that are not flown by human anymore, and soldiers are replaced by robots.

Moreover, Warwick (2004) said this is what scientist should be aware of. Robots (machines) can run faster than humans; they can also fly. It is true that robots are controlled and programmed by humans, such as robots do not harm human. But still, if it is a military device such as a cruise missile, it does not have an in-built program that says I do not harm human. Science-fiction writer Michael Sawyer says “Once robots achieve human-like consciousness (a development he believes is inevitable) human beings will become an endangered species” (Anderson, 2004, pp.1).

Imagining robots such as in the I,Robot movie is still a long time. However, those kinds of robots were actually have been made since several years ago even though it is just started with a toy kind of robot. These robots are iRobot Roomba robot vacuum, Sony's AIBO pup and QRIO humanoid robots, The Paro "Mental Commit" therapeutic robot, The Mars Rovers, NASA's Cassini-Huygens Saturn probe, Industrial and assembly robots, Robot kits, FurReal "pets" from Hasbro, Honda Asimo, Robot prosthesis and orthotics and so on (ulanoff, 2004, pp.1)

Yet Lateline on the ABC, shows that each year computer engineers set up a robot soccer world cup which they call it RoboCup. Hopefully, in the future those robots could bend it like Beckham. Surprisingly, the interviewer of Lateline, Tony Jones (2004) says “rapidly robotics and artificial intelligence are advancing”. It means that as time goes by, robots that were being used in that competition are becoming more intelligence. However, one of the robots creators in Australia, Professor Claude Sammut (ABC Lateline, 2004, pp.1) from the University of New South Wales says that recently, robots used for the competition are completely autonomous and sophisticated. What is more, Sammut himself said that it is hard to build a humanoid robot because it is made from different kind of technology and it is complicated.

In a nutshell, it is a hard question answer is this fact or fiction. Sooner or later, this kind of situation might happen if humans keep relying on machines and robots and definitely maintaining their development. Therefore, We have to be aware of this. Soon robots could be controlling the world?

*Submitted for assignment in Media, Communication and Information 102 (MCI 102) and had been marked.