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A computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or "data." You can use a computer to type documents, send email, and browse the internet. You can also use it to handle spreadsheets, accounting, database management, presentations, games, and more. Our silicon based computers can only exist in one state at a time, a 0, 1 or blank. Think of a computer as a long piece of tape (the Turing device) that is sectioned off into squares and each square has a symbol, 0, 1 or left blank. A read-write device is used to scan these symbols and gives the machine its instructions to perform a certain program.
Quantum computers are computers that makes use of the quantum states of subatomic particles to store information. These computers are not limited to just two states; they encode information as quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in superposition. In other words the symbols are both 0 and 1 (and all points in between) at the same time. As opposed to our silicon based computers which can only exist in one state at a time (0, 1 or blank) “Qubits represent atoms, ions, photons or electrons and their respective control devices that are working together to act as computer memory and a processor” (Bonsor & Strickland, 2013) Because a quantum computer can contain these multiple states simultaneously, it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today's most powerful supercomputers.
While having quantum computers may be the foundation of creating self-aware or what would be Skynet, the actual brain of the robot is probably the most important part. That is the AGI or the Artificial General Intelligence (Strong AI.)AGI is a very difficult term to define but easy to conceptualize. The idea of “general intelligence” means the ability to achieve complex goals in complex environments using limited computational resources. To further rationalize this concept there are different tests that measure various levels of intelligence.
One specific interpretation is provided by the conditions for winning the $100,000 Loebner Prize is the Turing Test. “Since 1990, Hugh Loebner has offered $100,000 to the first AI program to pass this test at the annual Loebner Prize competition. Smaller prizes are given to the best-performing AI program each year, but no program has performed well enough to win the $100,000 prize”(Goertzel 2012). The Coffee Test potentially more difficult exam than the Turing Test also poses as a potential working definition for AGI: “go into an average American house and figure out how to make coffee, including identifying the coffee machine, figuring out what the buttons do, finding the coffee in the cabinet, etc. If a robot could do that, perhaps we should consider it to have general intelligence” (Goertzel, 2012). Even more difficult still is the Robot College Student Test: “when a robot can enroll in a human university and take classes in the same way as humans, and get its degree, then I’ll [say] we’ve created [an]… artificial general intelligence” (Goertzel, 2012). Finally, the last test too measure general intelligence is The Employment Test, Nils Nilsson, one AI’s founding researchers, once suggested an even more demanding operational definition for “human-level AI”the employment test: “Machines exhibiting true human-level intelligence should be able to do many of the things humans are able to do. Among these activities are the tasks or “jobs” at which people are employed. I suggest we replace the Turing test by something I will call the “employment test.” To pass the employment test, AI programs must… [have] at least the potential [to completely automate] economically important jobs” (Nilsson, 2012).
On January 24, 2014, Google bought advanced roboticsOn January 24, 2014, Google bought advanced robotics company DeepMind for $500 million. Deepmind, whose mission is to “to build general-purpose learning algorithms” is widely known for their research and development of AGI. Google’s acquisition of DeepMind is partly about “deep learning,” or ways of teaching bottom-up AI systems about complex concepts. Teaching bottom-up systems means throwing data at them and rewarding correct interpretation or behavior.” Even though Google bought one of the leading companies in AGI research the biggest stipulation of the merger was that Google setup an ethics board that will govern how the they can and can not use DeepMind's technology.
Another major acquisition Google bought was their purchase of Boston Dynamics, the company that built the Atlas Robot and BigDog. Atlas, a “humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain in a bipedal manner, while being able to climb using hands and feet as a human would.” Essentially, this robot was designed as the future human robot; able to use tools with its articulated hands, and being able to see with its stereo cameras and laser ranger finder. The robot currently is powered by a tethered electric power supply, and controlled remotely. BigDog, Boston Dynamics most famous robot, is renowned for its creepy looks and its ability to walk in most terrains. “Standing about 76cm tall, 91cm long and weighing 109kg, BigDog is an autonomous system powered by an engine and controlled by on-board computer system processing a series of sensors that monitor joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a gyroscope, LIDAR and a stereo vision system.” These robots will be the driving force for the future, more self-aware robots that Google hopes to make.
AGI and quantum computers are still in their infant stage in terms of research and while they may be the technolgy of the future; in the present its still incredibly expensive. Along with the expensive costs of researching and building AGI is the fact that we as humans do not even know enough about our own brains let alone build a mechanical version of it. “What is needed is nothing less than a breakthrough in philosophy, a theory that explains how brains create explanations … and hence defines, in principle, without ever running them as programs, which algorithms possess that functionality and which do not” (Kurzweil, 2012).
Google is arguably the closest company in creating self-aware robots. They have funds, robots, and intelligence needed. However, AGI technology is still far away from creating fully self-aware robotics. As stated previously no AI has ever been able to complete any kind of test to prove that it has general intelligence. We are still far away from reaching this goal, however, the future is in sight and is very possible.