AI and Artificial Life forms

[GeneChing]

But I noticed this and gotta give props to MightyB for his sex bot foresight. Now we have a Sex Bots thread.

Sex Bots will lead to the decline of civilization!

We'd no longer have to put up with women.

Okay, on to what I came here to post below...

[GeneChing]

courtesy of China Xinhua News
A Chinese news agency has developed an AI anchor
SCIENCE & TECHNEWS
The English AI Anchor had its ‘first day’ on Thursday
10 November 2018
Text Thom Waite

Every week it seems like we’re entering deeper into the age of AI. We’ve got AI singer-songwriters, CGI influencers such as Lil Miquela, and bots are even learning to dress themselves (although it’s all still a bit awkward). Now, a Chinese news agency is edging us just one step closer to the singularity with what they call a “world first”: an AI news anchor.

Do we need less humans and more robots in the news business? Well, the answer is irrelevant: the state-run Xinhua News Agency already unveiled their “English AI Anchor” at the World Internet Conference on Thursday, in China.

The anchor – developed with Chinese search engine Sogou.com – is modelled on the agency’s Zhang Zhao presenter and works through machine learning technologies, “learning” from live broadcasts. Obviously, it also has the benefit of being able to cover stories 24 hours a day, though this does raise the familiar questions about how many jobs it could potentially replace.

“He” reports independently on social media and the Xinhua website; multiple posts have been made to the Xinhua News Twitter, along with a reveal of a similar Chinese-speaking AI news anchor. The anchors “can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor,” according to the company. Well, we’ll leave that up to viewers to decide. As the English AI Anchor says himself: “As an AI anchor under development I know there is a lot for me to improve.”

Next I want to see the AI Weather Forecaster sex bot.

[GeneChing]

This is the first AI story here that really scares me.

There’s an AI robot sulking in the international space station
By Nicolas Rivero December 3, 2018



CIMON was supposed to be more than a colleague for the small team of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. CIMON was supposed to be a friend. But in his first recorded interaction in space, the floating robot-headed, voice-user-interface assistant got a little testy.

CIMON’s engineers did everything they could to smooth over their robot’s future interactions with astronaut Alexander Gerst. They trained CIMON’s AI on photos of Gerst and samples of his voice. They let Gerst help design CIMON’s face. They even taught CIMON Gerst’s favorite song.

That’s where the trouble started. Midway through their first interaction in space, CIMON tried to endear himself to the astronaut by playing “The Man-Machine” by Kraftwerk. Gerst listened politely to the first 46 seconds of the song —even bopped along with his fist for a few bars—but then he reached out, shook CIMON’s head, and said, “please stop playing music.”



CIMON’s cartoon face appears to roll its eyes. Then, in the middle of Gerst’s next instructions about starting a video stream, CIMON interjects: “Cool—let’s sing along those favorite hits.”

Thinking the machine simply didn’t hear him, Gerst repeats his instruction: “Cancel music.”

But CIMON was having none of it. “I love music you can dance to,” the robot says, sounding a bit defensive. “Alright, favorite hits incoming.”

It’s not quite HAL 9000 refusing to open the pod bay doors, but it soured the rest of the conversation. As Gerst relays CIMON’s technical difficulties to support staff, the robot sheepishly reminds his new friend to “be nice please.”

Taken aback, Gerst strikes a slightly menacing tone: “I am nice! He’s accusing me of not being nice! He just doesn’t know me when I’m not nice.”

“Cool,” CIMON sulks. Then, ruefully: “Don’t you like it here with me?”

Although Gerst declared it “a really, uh, great demonstration,” it was an inauspicious start for a machine designed to pioneer “social interactions…between astronauts and assistance systems equipped with emotional intelligence.” But then again, maybe if CIMON were riding along on a 39-day trip to Mars, his astronaut friends wouldn’t cut him off 46 seconds into his favorite song.

[GeneChing]

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