[ExI] rethinking ai

[spike]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8401349.stm

Science goes back to basics on AI  
 
Robots are widely used but few are considered intelligent 
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has begun a project to re-think
artificial intelligence research.

The Mind Machine Project will return to the basics of AI research to
re-examine what lies behind human intelligence. 

Spanning five years and funded by a $5m (£3.1m) grant, it will bring
together scientists who have had success in distinct fields of AI. 

By uniting researchers, MIT hopes to produce robotic companions smart enough
to aid those suffering from dementia. 

"Essentially, we want to rewind to 30 years ago and revisit some ideas that
had gotten frozen," said Neil Gershenfeld, one of the scientists leading the
MMP and director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms. 

Mental help

The MMP will bring together more than 20 senior AI scientists in a loose
coalition to conduct research. 

Dr Gershenfeld said that although AI research was more than 50 years old,
many scientists involved with the field were frustrated by the piecemeal
progress that had been made. 

The MMP will go back to re-visit some of the basic assumptions made when AI
research got underway. 

Dr Gershenfeld said AI research had got stuck on three separate areas that
the MMP would tackle : mind, body and memory. 

On the mind, the research will look at ways to model thought, produce
problem solving systems and understand the social context in which human
intelligence is played out. 

In re-thinking memory, the researchers are interested in making machines
that can handle the inconsistencies and messiness of human knowledge. 

Finally, the team aims to end the division of mind and body to produce
systems whose intelligence derives from what they can do. 

The ultimate aim for the five-year project is not to produce an artificial
human but to create a physical system that is smart enough to read a child's
story book, understand the context surrounding that narrative and explain
what happened. 

This could lead, said MIT, to the creation of a "brain co-processor"
initially intended for those with Alzheimer's to give them a better quality
of life. Such mental prostheses could also be used by anyone needing help to
co-ordinate their lives.