AGI-World

While at IDF in San Francisco (Aug-08), I had the pleasure of watching, from the front row no less, Intel’s CTO, Justin Rattner explain+support Ray Kurzweil’s concept of the technological singularity. This is big. Now, more and more high level executives will come out in support w/o fear of loosing their jobs.

Intel’s chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, had his eye firmly fixed on the future at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

In his closing keynote speech Rattner said that Ray Kurzweil’s concept of ‘the Singularity’, a point when human and artificial intelligence merges to create something bigger than itself, could be just 40 years away.

Intel predicts singularity by 2048

At the Intel Developer Forum here, Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner showed off a number of technologies in computing, robotics, and communication that he cited as evidence that Ray Kurzweil’s concept of “singularity,” when machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence, is impending.

“We’re making steady progress toward Ray Kurtzweil’s singularity,” Rattner said.

Intel touts progress toward intelligent computers

google.com/search?q=rattner+singularity

Also of note, with Ray Kurzweil, Ben Goertzel and others, Justin Rattner plans to speak at the Singularity Summit (Oct 25, 2008) in San Jose (website forthcoming).

I think Susan and I hosted the first swingularitarian cocktail party…

…at our place in Redwood City, CA. Russell Whitaker is credited w/ coining the term when he, Moshe Looks and I were brainstorming new phrases in the kitchen.

In pic above, Nancy (on the magic blue bean bag), Greg Coladonato (Google), Susan Fonseca-Klein (SIAI, MF) and Jeff Hall (MF). Also joining us, Moshe Looks (Google), Matt Bell (Reactrix), Sonia Arrison (PRI, Lead21), Troy Byrd (Woz), Tyler Emerson (SIAI). Next time, I need to take more pics.

VentureBeat’s Dan Kaplan reviewed Novamente from an informed perspective:

Nintendogs for the DS was a brilliant game. Its premise — pick a puppy and nurture it to adulthood — played on the digital pet theme that has driven high sales from Tamagotchi to Pikachu, and let you teach your dogs fancy tricks and skills that would improve over time, almost like it was learning.

But it wasn’t. A Nintendog’s behaviors were scripted, its personality restricted to a handful of breeds. On the other hand, Novamente a company that aims eventually to develop a super-smart artificial intelligence (AI), says that its current technology will make such limitations remnants of the past.

Ya!

spectrum.ieee.org/singularity

google.com/search?hl=en&q=IEEE+Spectrum+singularity

After a successful AGI-08 (videos online), AGI-09 is now planned for Arlington VA, Mar 6-9, 2009.

The InnerSpace Foundation and The IF Prize

The IF takes the position that the most rapid timelines to solving humanity’s most serious problems ” including providing complete and lasting cures for the most diseased and disabled ” will be accomplished through widespread improvement of memory and mind, rather than through the best efforts of people who are well-meaning but of naturally limited abilities. - Dr. Pete Estep

On Apr 30th, 2008 in Palo Alto, Dr. Pete Estep will discuss the InnerSpace Foundation (IF), a new nonprofit being developed to promote and support neuroengineering approaches for the enhancement of memory and learning “ biomedical goals that have the potential to improve not only the lives of those suffering from a specific malady, but everyone’s life.

InnerSpace Foundation & the IF Prize - Wed. Apr 30, 6pm
SAP, Building D, 3410 Hillview Ave, Palo Alto 94304
details…

With great support from the Accelerating Future People Database, we’re in the process of uploading AGI-08 talks. Thus far, Ben Goertzel’s introductory talk - AI and AGI: Past, Present and Future - has been uploaded, along with a few other.

“Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.” - I.J. Good (1965)

Since the Singularity Summit 2007, discussion of Novamente, AGI and virtual worlds has percolated rapidly through the media and blogosphere. The following are seven blog posts… including excerpts.
With excellent documentation and photos, Tish Shute (UgoTrade founder) covers much ground in her 3,877 word post, including interview w/ Novamente’s Ben Goertzel during his visit w/ friend and advisor, Prof. Hugo de Garis, in China:

Last week, Goertzel’s startup company Novamente LLC announced their collaboration with Electric Sheep Company to bring artificial intelligence agents to online virtual worlds (see BBC News Coverage). So things are definitely beginning to ramp up. Novamente and Electric Sheep will show off their plans for AI in virtual worlds at the Virtual Worlds Fall Conference and Expo 2007, Oct 10th - 11th, San Jose, CA.Goertzel explained to me some of the reasons virtual worlds such as Second Life have the potential to form very interesting environments for the development of AGI. Most importantly in online virtual worlds, if you roll out virtual babies or pets you also get a huge mass of people to teach them things. You get the opportunity to harness the wisdom of crowds. Many MMOG games have AI in them but games are narrow, not requiring much flexibility or adaptiveness on the part of the AI agents operating in them. The openness of virtual worlds creates many new possibilities for AGI. Also artificial intelligence can be embedded in a variety of embodied agents at a low cost.

Lisa Galarneau’s Terranova Blog,
The Singularity, Virtual Worlds and AI Babies:

Continue reading »

SIAI’s Director of Partnerships, Jonas Lamis, responded to Wall Street Journal’s Lee Gomes’ negative review of the Singularity Summit 2007 (where SIAI / Novamente’s Ben Goertzel presented). In line with Lamis’ response, entrepreneur, futurust and documentary filmmaker, Michael E. Arth, chastised WSJ with the following:

Letter to the Wall Street Journal

Editor,

I must have been at a different Singularity Summit from the one that Lee Gomes wrote about so derisively on September 19th. First of all, the technological singularity gets its name from the metaphor of a black hole, a collapsed star that has such intense gravity that light cannot escape. The technological singularity refers to a fantastical period of time in the near future where things we value will change so profoundly that it is extremely difficult, from our current perspective, to shed light on what will happen. The timing of the singularity depends on whether there is a hard take or a soft take off in the chain of recursively, self-improving, thinking machines that will probably result after we build the first one. Continue reading »