KurzweilAI.net: Intro to AI
by Jerry Flattum
In the wake of Steven Spielberg's summer blockbuster, AI: Artificial Intelligence, the world gets its first glimpse of what an intelligent machine can really be. The KurzweilAI.net website shows you how.
Robots that clean your house are as old as the Jetson's. Robots that clean your arteries and veins make cloning seem like a 3rd grade science project. Well, that's not true. It won't be easy telling a DNA-born human from a high-tech factory produced model.
Whatever intrigues you about AI is sure to be found at KurzweilAI.net. Beyond information on such fields as pattern recognition, robotics and expert systems, the KurzweilAI.net site features new web technologies as well.
Following the Flash intro, "Ramona," a virtual reality avatar, will take you on a tour of the site. Ramona is Raymond Kurzweil's self-proclaimed "alter ego" based on motion capture and real-time image rendering technologies. She's called a "chatterbot" (conversational robot) and is also a recording artist and virtual reality performer.
If Ramona doesn't grab you The Brain will. The Brain (www.thebrain.com) is an information management interface designed to work intuitively, like the human brain. As a navigation system it allows you to search the Kurzweil site graphically without scrolling through lists and clicking buttons.
Numerous technology firms have contributed to the site including LifeFX.com (Ramona), eGain.com (conversation engine), Ascension-Tech.com (motion capture), 3DLabs.com (graphics) and many more. The site features articles by many AI-related experts like Marvin Minsky, K. Eric Drexler and Max More (founder of Extropy Institute).
You don't have to use The Brain or Ramona to get around. The site has a well laid out navigation system covering the sites major features. The Brain takes you deeper into the mysteries of AI and through the dozens of articles by "big thinkers" you get an excellent education on the future of technology and the human condition.
And who is Raymond Kurzweil? He's just another one of your average everyday computer pioneer geniuses merging music and computers, making new forays in AI and eating lunch with other MIT alumni geeks. Geek is good. Guys like Kurzweil and his cronies don't live in the real world. Instead, they spend all their time creating our future, with a little help from movie geeks Spielberg and Lucas, of course.
The days of clunky androids and computer chess games are over. We know machines can think but can they feel? Have we found the fountain of youth? Will AI allow us to live forever? Will supersmart robots "decide" to be friendly or will they take over the planet and turn us humans into slaves? Don't ask me...I'm only human.
BTW, Kurzweil gives a big thumbs up on the Spielberg film via an entertaining article on the movie's coverage of AI. For those weaned in the art and science of AI through Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey...HAL lives!
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