The AI ALERT is a semimonthly service from The American Association for Artificial Intelligence providing an eclectic subset from the "AI in the news" page in AI TOPICS, the AAAI sponsored pathfinder web site. For the entire collection of headlines, articles, excerpts, and pointers to related pages within AI TOPICS, please visit our page of current news at
http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/html/current.html
An HTML version of this ALERT, as well as back issues, can be found at
http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/articles&columns/aialerts.html
=======================================
January 31, 2003: Computer system helping students improve writing skills. By Hannah Nelson. WISTV.
"Darin Hornsby is a ninth grader who used to have problems writing, but now he's knocking out essays in a snap thanks to a new program called MyAccess.... The web site's grading system uses artificial intelligence. MyAccess 'learned' to grade essays using a database of hundreds of different writing examples. Ninth grade English teacher Lilly Bozigian says, 'If I were to do this at home, it would take me two to three days ... turnaround time for me to give them back their essay. This gives it back to them in two seconds.' In a few years the grading system will be used to score the essay portion of the writing portions of the SAT. ... The automated grading system is also being expanded to improve student skills in science, social studies, math and foreign languages."
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1108153&nav=0RaPDgs0
January 31, 2003: Total Information Awareness official responds to criticism. By Shane Harris. Government Executive.
"The second-ranking official on the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness Project to predict terrorist attacks says critics of the effort have misinterpreted its goals and the nature of the technology it will use. ... [I]n recent interviews with Government Executive, TIA Deputy Director Robert Popp showed how TIA would rely on the artificial intelligence work of earlier projects as well as the inspection of databases that has inflamed TIA's critics. TIA's goal is to predict terrorist attacks before they happen. ... Thinking Machines: In 1989, DARPA started working with the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., to develop 'automatic decision-making' practices to aid the military in times of crisis and planning, documents show. It was among the first in a series of DARPA projects aimed at teaching computers to think more like people, and to make analyses and decisions on their own. ... Beer and Diapers: Most of the scientific skepticism about TIA concerns data mining. The term is ill-defined, but is well illustrated by an often-cited case. A number of convenience store clerks, the story goes, noticed that men often bought beer at the same time they bought diapers. The store mined its receipts and proved the clerks' observations correct. So, the store began stocking diapers next to the beer coolers, and sales skyrocketed. The story is a myth, but it shows how data mining seeks to understand the relationship between different actions."
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0103/013103h1.htm
February 2, 2003: Mind Over Matter - Self-admitted geeks find way to compete through design and programming of robots who perform tasks. By Brandon Ortiz. Star-Telegram.
"The FemBots were among more than 100 high school students from eight Tarrant County high schools who competed Saturday at the third annual RoPro robot competition at the University of Texas at Arlington. The two dozen robot cars were built from identical LEGO kits provided by the university's Department of Computer Science and Engineering. ... [Roy] Hernandez plays football and wrestles but admits he's a math geek who watches BattleBots on Comedy Central regularly. Building a robot lets him challenge his problem-solving skills. 'You can't rely on a remote so you have to use your programming,' Hernandez said. 'You are creating artificial intelligence. Kind of like the movie [A.I.: Artificial Intelligence].'"
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/5088332.htm
February 2, 2003: Oregon authors > Misha Nogha - Writer of cyberpunk novel now switching gears. The Register-Guard.
"[Question] 'What is cyberpunk?' [Response] 'The term cyberpunk was coined by Gardner Dozois, editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, to describe a movement in science fiction (in the '80s) which emphasized the interplay between artificial intelligence and humans. In many of the books, the characters have implants in their brains that allow them to directly plug into computers. Of course, this is happening now with sightless individuals who are able to receive from computers patterns of vision. My book more deals with the sociological impact on persons who are either mechanically enhanced or genetically manipulated.' [Question] 'Who are the best cyberpunk authors?'..."
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/02/02/ar.oregonauthor.0202.html
February 3, 2003: Daniel C. Dennett - The Mind Machine: To cognitive scientist Daniel C. Dennett, there's nothing artificial about the intelligence of computers. TechTV.
Watch this episode of Tech TV's Big Thinkers series on Monday 2/3 at 9:30 p.m., Tuesday 2/4 at 12:30 a.m., and Wednesday 2/5 at 8 a.m. Eastern. "Many philosophers and scientists have pointed out the similarities between the human brain and the computer, but no one has dedicated more time to those similarities than this week's big thinker Daniel C. Dennett of Tufts University. Considered a radical by many in the cognitive science field, we sat down with Dennett to find out why he believes that the mind -- and indeed consciousness itself -- is solely a series of computations." A video highlight - - Daniel C. Dennett on artificial intelligence - is available online.
http://www.techtv.com/bigthinkers/features/story/0,23008,3371949,00.html
February 3, 2003: To seek, to find and not to yield - The Columbia disaster should not stop manned space trips. Comment by Duncan Steel. The Guardian.
"Nowadays many space activities may be carried out by robotic craft, controlled from the ground or by their on-board computers. But there is a limit to what can be done remotely, or using artificial intelligence. Space agencies try to minimise cost in every way, and anything involving manned flight implies far higher expenditure, but in the end there is no replacement for a human brain. Many probes have been sent to Mars, and this year Nasa and the European Space Agency will launch others, but these have all been robotic craft with limited capabilities. To understand Mars, and conduct a proper search for life, eventually we'll need to send a geologist with a rock hammer - plus, of course, some pretty sophisticated analysis equipment."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spacedocumentary/story/0,2763,887748,00.html
February 3, 2003: Hands-on high-tech school - Ecole de technologie superieure opened its doors yesterday, revealing an institution where students build canoes from concrete and a robot that sometimes loses its way. By Levon Sevunts. Montreal Gazette.
"At the neighbouring stand, Nicolas Morency, a fourth-year automated-production engineering student, was trying to get Mentis, a robot, to navigate a path marked by blue duct tape and orange traffic cones. Mentis kept getting lost, but Morency was certain that sooner or later his team would succeed in designing a robot capable of navigating not just a flat floor, but also a field or a forest. When they do, the U.S. Army, which has already expressed interest in the robot, will be waiting for them with wads of cash, Morency said."
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=%7BB33832C1-ECA0-4C7C-A4F7-EF05C17CAD7F%7D
February 2003: Healthcare's Last Mile - Linking Disparate Information Systems. Viewpoint by David St. Clair. Health Management Technology.
"In the telecommunications industry, the 'last mile' is the cable linking the technology infrastructure of the switching station to the consumer sitting at home. ... We are facing a similar situation in healthcare. Healthcare organizations have spent billions in recent years on information technology, but we still are not having a sufficient impact on patients and the quality of care they receive. We have not gone the last mile. The reason: a myriad of disparate systems that cannot talk to each other. Too often, the information is stored in silos, legacy systems unable to talk to each other. ... In the coming years, we will see the increasing use of electronic medical records and transmission of data by home monitoring and implantable or wearable medical devices. The new data sources, when coupled with new types of analytical software, have the potential to reshape the way we deliver healthcare in the U.S. Clinicians will be able to download information from instruments implanted in patients and have the data analyzed by a decision support system using artificial intelligence tools, such as logic engines and neural networks. The physician can then communicate care instructions to the patient, even if he is confined to his home or at a remote clinic."
http://www.healthmgttech.com/archives/0203viewpoint.htm
February 3, 2003: Robot Football. By Anne Blair Gould. Radio Netherlands.
"For years, the Dutch have been famous for their world-class soccer teams - but few people know that the Netherlands won the German Robot Football Open in 2002. The Philips Cyber Football team demonstrated that its robots have got what it takes to win an international tournament. ... In the meantime, everyone gets a chance to show off their latest technological capabilities as the Robocup events continue - the next one is in Padua in Italy, from the 2nd to the 11th of July 2003. ... This story was featured in Research File. Listen to the programme in full [via link in article]."
http://www.rnw.nl/science/html/030203robot.html
February 3, 2003: Chatting with a real hot, intelligent bot. By Chee Yih Yang. The Star Online.
"Many Malaysians have taken to the SMS (short message service) phenomenon. It's cheaper than voice-calls, and a little less rude than too since the receiver is under no pressure to respond immediately. What if you're stuck on a long train ride back from work, and all your SMS messages are not being replied to? Well, you could chat with a total stranger who is guaranteed to reply. The catch is, as you may have suspected, that she's a 'bot' or a virtual entity. Plus, you'll have to pay for the service. Some time in the middle of this month, VQ Interactive Sdn Bhd (www.botizen.com) and Macrokiosk Sdn Bhd (www.macrokiosk.com ), both Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) status companies, will launch an artificial intelligence or AI-based platform that provides 24-hour SMSing to Malaysian mobile phone users. The application, BOTizen-SMS@Kelie, allows users to chat with its host 'Kelie.' The service is billed as something that mimics IRC (Internet relay chat), since the replies are instantaneous, any time of the day. ... Kelie is not only going to be marketed towards the bored and the restless -- VQ Interactive is trying to convince Malaysian companies to incorporate Kelie into their advertising and promotional campaigns."
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2003/2/3/technology/02bot&sec=technology
February 4, 2003: Students 'deal with' shuttle tragedy. By Susan Weinstein. The Taunton Gazette.
"Elizabeth Calef was helping her students make their robot for an upcoming competition when she got the call about the Columbia shuttle disaster. ... 'The took it very seriously, but they dealt with it,' said Calef, who teaches physics at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School and advises the FIRST Robotics team. ... Paul Zeller said he looked forward to a time when robots with artificial intelligence eventually replace humans on high-risk missions."
http://www.tauntongazette.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6927191&BRD=1711&PAG=461&dept_id=24232&rfi=6
February 4, 2003: Should we be up there at all? By Hiawatha Bray. Boston Globe.
"In a time when unmanned satellites can broadcast TV images around the world, and robots can scurry across the surface of Mars, why send people into space? ... Still, for Neil de Grasse Tyson, astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, it's the human need for heroes that justifies the vast expense and terrific peril of human space flight. 'I have yet to see anyone give a ticker-tape parade for a robot,' he said."
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/035/science/Should_we_be_up_there_at_all_%2B.shtml
February 4, 2003: Making machines human is real chess match of AI world. By Ronald Kotulak. Chicago Tribune & Knight Ridder / available from the Centre Daily Times.
"Garry Kasparov, the world's best chess player, may not realize it yet, but he's doomed. It really doesn't matter whether he wins his current match with a supercomputer, according to experts in artificial intelligence, or AI. They agree that computer technology is advancing so fast that within a few years machines will be well beyond the chess skills of any human. ... For computers, chess is no longer a challenge. It is not even the most intellectual game - the ancient Chinese board game Go and the computer game Civilization each require more sophisticated strategy. And cheap computer chess games can beat most players on Earth. But when they defeat the world's best, it will not be merely because of the machines' vast numbers-crunching power. Ultimately, chess computers - and other AI projects - will succeed when they are able to think more and more like a human. What makes chess so interesting and difficult is the enormous number of possible moves. ... Most computer scientists are not interested in building better chess-playing machines. But they are fascinated with the brain's fantastic pattern-recognition capabilities, and that is what they are trying to build into their new programs. 'Computer chess is kind of a sideshow for most AI people; it's kind of fun and interesting, but it's not exactly mainstream,' said Ken Forbus, professor of computer science, education and social policy at Northwestern University. 'Tremendous advances in computer technology have been made, but they won't show up in the chess stuff,' said Forbus, who develops artificial intelligence systems for the military and schools."
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/5101712.htm
February 4, 2003: Blueprint for the Future - How Science and Technology Will Change Architecture. By Jacob Dalton. TechTV / available from ABC News.
"A decade ago, one might have considered Neil Spiller a fanatic, an architect whose concepts were more suited for a science-fiction novel than a world based in reality. ... To hear Spiller tell it, we're literally living in the past. The acclaimed instructor at London's Bartlett School of Architecture says that traditional theories of architecture are out of date. ... Spiller says the traditional notion of building is obsolete. Instead, architecture must marry its time-tested concepts with scientific theories and cutting-edge technologies. Spiller's concepts are theoretical, and some are as abstract as a Salvador Dali painting. However, he points out some existing technologies that could be a boon for architects.
Besides software programming and knowledge of complex algorithms, Spiller says new-fangled sciences such as genetic engineering, artificial intelligence (AI), cloning, and nanotechnology are the future of architecture."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_futurebuildings030204.html
February 5, 2003: Physicist still leaves some all shook up. By Dave Brooks. The Telegraph.
"With Albert Einstein, science has long had its Gandhi, but only in the past few years has science pondered creating its Young Elvis. That would be physicist Richard Feynman, a man whose establishment-tweaking personality was so much larger than life that his friend Marvin Minsky (yes, that Marvin Minksy) told a gathering last week at MIT: 'I could tell you lots of anecdotes, because Richard was one long anecdote.' ... Feynman is the person that every geek wants to be: very smart, honored by the establishment even as he won't play by its rules, admired by people of both sexes, arrogant without being envied and humble without being pitied. In other words, he's Young Elvis, with the earth-shaking talent transferred from larynx to brain cells and enough sense to have avoided the fat Las Vegas phase. Is such celebrity-ification of scientists good? I think so, even if people do have a tendency to go overboard. Anything that gets us thinking about science is something to be admired, whether it comes in the form of an algorithm or an anecdote."
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=30&SubSectionID=90&ArticleID=73173
February 6, 2003: Machine visionary - Author and inventor Ray Kurzweil is an authority on artificial intelligence. Interviewed by Hamish Mackintosh. The Guardian.
Here's a sample of what you'll find: "[Q:] 'Is AI experiencing a renaissance?' [A:] 'We're in an era of what I'd call 'narrow AI', where systems are performing intelligent functions that used to require human intelligence. Intelligent systems can fly and land airplanes or make financial investment decisions. These were research projects 10 years ago and are now in widespread practical application and have become integrated into our information infrastructure. Every time an application works, it's no longer called AI - it becomes a separate field. It's speech recognition, character recognition, robotics, machine vision, etc.'"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,889295,00.html
February 6, 2003: A Laurel Wreath for an AI Expert. ISI News.
"Computer Scientist Jerry R. Hobbs received an honorary degree from the University of Uppsala Jan. 24, only three months after joining the USC School of Engineering's Information Sciences Institute. ... Using the DARPA Agent Markup Language Hobbs is building a beyond-Google search engine that tailors itself to the user's needs, expressed in something closer to ordinary language, ('I want to buy a first edition copy of Gone with the Wind at a store in Beverly Hills this afternoon'), rather than demanding that users guess the right key words. ... When not researching ways to help computers and people understand each other more easily, Hobbs travels -- to 118 countries so far . 'I have ... climbed the Matterhorn, drove a Land Rover from London to Capetown, got attacked by a thousand people in Egypt, got stuck in quicksand in the interior of Iceland, flew in a Russian cargo plane to Timbuktu, followed orangutans around the Borneo rain forest, narrowly avoided being kidnapped in Yemen, etc.,' he wrote recently."
http://www.usc.edu/isinews/stories/77.html
February 7, 2003: Enduring call of space. Commentary by Austin Bay. The Washington Times.
"A more sophisticated argument pits robots against manned spacecraft. Increasingly able artificial intelligence systems mean we can get more out of robotics. Yet full-fledged space exploitation requires humans and human creativity to respond to the unexpected challenge and opportunity. To follow Mr. Michener's thought, some day we may need to inhabit space. Robots can't inhabit the Andromeda galaxy on our behalf."
http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20030207-18375904.htm
February 7, 2003: High Noon for Kasparov, Deep Jr. By Leander Kahney. Wired News.
"It's Terminator time for Garry Kasparov. The final match in the six-game Man versus Machine chess tournament, which pits Kasparov, the world's best human player, against Deep Junior, the world's best computerized chess program, will be played this afternoon in New York, and it's all come down to the last game. After five fairly evenly matched games, the players are tied with 2.5 points each. Each has one win under his belt and three draws. But while Kasparov is nearly worn out, Deep Junior just keeps on going. Like a homicidal robot, the computer absolutely will not stop. Ever. ... In the fifth game, playing white, Kasparov was again expected to win. But on the 10th move, Deep Junior pulled a shocking bishop sacrifice, chased Kasparov's king all over the board, and forced him into a speedy draw after only 19 moves. ... Online, between 2 million and 3 million people have watched a real-time broadcast of the matches provided by X3D Technologies, which co-sponsored the event. The matches are also available for viewing here at Wired News, ChessBase, AOL, Der Spiegel and elsewhere. Such is the interest in the match that even ESPN will be covering it live, though that may have more to do with a seasonal lull in the sporting calendar than interest among sports fans."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57584,00.html
February 7, 2003: Ethics Matters - People like the old rules. Corporations have redefined the workplace, but individuals haven't. By Carlton Vogt. InfoWorld.
"The fly in the ointment, of course, is that in our dealings with corporations, we interact with their representatives, who are moral agents, who are human, and who do have feelings. But what if we could eliminate that? Imagine that there were an AI (artificial intelligence) system so advanced that it could actually do the hiring for a company without any human intervention at all. It scanned incoming resumes, selected candidates, and screened applicants all by itself. ... [W]ithout human intervention, it selected candidates, made offers, and completed paperwork for those who accepted the offer. It then placed new hires on work schedules and assigned them to projects. On the first day of work, the supervisor received an e-mail saying that 'Pat Smith begins work on your project today.' Would that change anything? Would you now feel as bound by your acceptance of the offer as you would had you interacted with a human being? If you could simply log on to the system and cancel your acceptance -- the same way you can log in and cancel a hotel reservation -- would you feel you had 'broken your word?'"
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/02/07/06ethmat_1.html
February 7, 2003: Basketball buddies build a computerized shot doctor. By Kevin Maney. USA Today.
"Eighteen months ago, there were three guys who met at church, lived in the same Silicon Valley neighborhood and played basketball in one of their driveways. The first guy was a physicist and MBA. The second, an expert in an esoteric computer field called machine vision. The last, a rocket scientist. While playing, they talked shop and basketball, as guys sometimes do. This led them to think up an invention, as Silicon Valley guys sometimes do. They made a seeing computer to teach basketball players to shoot better. It analyzes the arc of a ball as it travels from hand to hoop, then it tells the player how to change the arc so the shot has a better chance of going in. ... They call the machine Noah. Its tag line: 'Building the perfect arc.'
... McGhee is a one-man company called Machine Vision Associates. He's an expert in software that makes computers 'see' objects. Most of his work is industrial, such as putting machine vision on an assembly line so the machine can spot defective computer chips."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2003-02-06-noah-basketball-_x.htm
February 8, 2003: Who's Best at Chess? For Now, It's Neither Man Nor Machine. By Paul Hoffman. The New York Times (no fee reg. req'd.).
"A battle-weary Garry Kasparov and a stolid Deep Junior agreed to a 28-move draw yesterday in the last game of their man-vs.-machine chess competition at the New York Athletic Club. The six-game match ended in a tie, with each side winning a game and drawing the other four. ... "It's deja blue all over again," said Joel Benjamin, a three-time United States champion who worked with I.B.M. on Deep Blue. ... The grandmasters at the athletic club were divided on how soon it will be before silicon beasts dominate world-class chess completely. 'I give us only a few years,' Mr. Kasparov said. 'Then they'll win every match, and we may have to struggle to win even a single game.' Mr. Alburt was more sanguine. 'I believe that even at the end of this century, the top humans will be defeating computers,' he said. 'There are now physical limits to increasing computing power to the point where the game can be solved by a machine.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/08/nyregion/08CHES.html
February 8, 2003: Machines primed to checkmate in war for the world. By Nicholas Wapshott. The Times.
"For the past two weeks, in the fusty surroundings of the New York Athletic Club, Garry Kasparov has been playing chess against a computer called Deep Junior in a contest billed as 'Man v Machine'. ... The Kasparov match, which ended last night in a tie, was played under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, which suggests that it is only a short step before artificial intelligences will be allowed to compete in the human championship. Deep Junior has already seen off all man-made rivals. Kasparov readily concedes: 'Humans' days at the top of the chess world are limited. I give us just a few years.' ... In most imagined accounts of the day that machines inherit the Earth, the computer is, like Frankenstein's monster, based closely upon the human model. In Fritz Lang's Metropolis the beautiful metallic android in female form is zapped into life as a fleshy flapper. ... Stanley Kubrick's vision of the future was altogether truer. His all-embracing computer HAL was kept out of sight and had no human characteristics, other than a soft voice and an unblinking, all-seeing, red-lit lens. It is that impersonal robot-in-a-box that is slowly taking over Western life. Our children have been playing with artificial intelligence, rather than real flesh and blood playmates, for the past decade, but we have barely noticed. We tend to think that they are playing on the computer, when they are playing with or against it. ... Who exactly was Kasparov playing against at the New York Sports Club? And who are our teenage sons really confronting when they tap away at the keyboard playing EA Sports's Fifa 2003? Our children are playing with their computer friends. The prospect does not alarm us because they do not look like us. ... America is on the brink of a new technological revolution which will do away with human labour in many fields where a safe pair of hands has always been thought essential."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-569882,00.html
February 10, 2003: At one with the universe - Do androids dream of electric sheep? Colin Tudge in London examines definitions of consciousness and artificial intelligence. The Age.
"Is the brain simply a computer, and is consciousness merely the feeling we get when we think? Or is consciousness a primary component of the universe, which the brain can latch on to, like a radio receiver? ... There are three points of view. The first, which can be traced back to the founder of modern computing, Alan Turing, and is embraced by the Oxford physiologist Colin Blakemore, is pragmatic. Turing pointed out that it is impossible to know whether other human beings are conscious. Because we feel conscious, we assume other people must be like us. But this can only be an inference. But suppose we made a computer - a robot - that could make whimsical jokes and pass the sandwiches without being asked.... [T]he emerging modern view says that matter and consciousness are not separate entities, as Descartes supposed, but complementary aspects of the universe. Both exist, but neither is primary. Each is the obverse of the other, like two sides of a coin." Also raised in the article is the question: "Is it reasonable to ascribe consciousness to a droll and well-mannered aunt, yet deny it in a robot that behaves like one?"
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/09/1044725672185.html
February 10, 2003: Disaster recovery or recovery from disaster? By Aneet Shah. IT Director.
"Market analyst Datamonitor predicts that spending on business continuity planning (BCP) and disaster recovery (DR) by financial services institutions will grow from an estimated $2.2bn in 2003 to $5.3bn by 2005, an increase of 45% over two years. ... A direct result of the complexity of the IT architectures being introduced is a need to share data between systems and process transactions, with the risk that if one part of the overall system fails, it can halt all of the other connected systems. With the advance in 'artificial intelligence', systems should be designed to be able to operate so that if one part of a system goes down, the remainder of the systems are automatically aware of this and invalidate any faulty transactions and continue normal operations."
http://www.it-director.com/article.php?id=3542
February 10, 2003: DARPA releases strategic plan. By Dan Caterinicchia. Federal Computer Week.
"The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency last week released a strategic plan, which lays out the agency's vision for the controversial Total Information Awareness project, as well as its top eight research areas. The DARPA report, made public Feb. 6, states that as a result of 'constant strategic reassessment,' the agency is emphasizing research in eight strategic areas: * Counterterrorism. * Assured use of space. * Networked manned and unmanned systems. * Robust, self-forming networks. * Detect, identify, track and destroy elusive surface targets. * Characterization of underground structures. * Bio-revolution. * Cognitive computing. ... DARPA's current IT efforts include: * The Software for Distributed Robotics program ... * The High Productivity Computing Systems program ... * The Enduring Personalized Cognitive Assistant."
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0210/web-darpa-02-10-03.asp
February 11, 2003: Beauty in the eye of the android. BBC.
"Artificial intelligence experts in Fife have unveiled a robotic head which they say can scientifically determine how attractive women are to men. But they have warned that it does not work in reverse because masculine appeal to women is not as likely to be based on looks alone. Specialists at Kirkcaldy-based Intelligent Earth company said that the head-shaped android was capable of calculating how 'feminine' or 'masculine' a person's face is. ... Managing director David Cumming said: 'The artificial intelligence technology we've developed here learns to recognise what sex someone is by drawing on its past experiences, in much the same way that the human brain learns when we are children.' ... The artificial intelligence firm received its first prototype of the robot, nicknamed Doki, last week and is now mass producing the android."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2749537.stm
February 12, 2003: Analog Chips - Making sense - In the coming years, look for analog--not digital--chips to attract the new talent and investment. By Eric W. Pfeiffer. Red Herring.
"Analog chips enable computers to interact with the physical world--to see, listen, touch--before that information is changed into the ones and zeroes of computing's lingua franca. Analog is the yin to digital's yang; it is capable of dealing with continuous states of information, waves of light and sound. ... For decades all effort and focus has been on miraculous advancements in digital chips, but the next ten years will see a shift in emphasis to analog technologies. ... If we ever hope to reach computing's final frontier--true artificial intelligence--similar advances must be made with smell, taste, and touch. While human skin boasts millions of sensors, a robot may have but 20, says Sebastian Thrun, a professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. 'Most senses in the computer world are very impoverished,' he says. 'Robots are really good at finding out small things with accuracy and repeatability, but they are ages away from understanding the physical analog information that humans can.'"
http://www.redherring.com/insider/2003/02/analogchips021203.html
February 12, 2003: Software company picks new director. By Frantisek Bouc. The Prague Post.
"Web software company Systinet recently boosted its board of directors with the appointment of John Seely Brown -- scientist, author and former director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California. ... Brown is a co-founder of the Institute for Research and Learning, a member of the National Association of Education and a Fellow of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence."
http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2003/Art/0212/busims.php
February 12, 2003: Imagina Awards Showcase Extreme Variety. By Katherine Tyrka. Computer Graphics World.
"This year's Imagina Awards once again showcased the extreme variety of computer graphics use today. With 380 submissions, including shorts and feature films, music videos and commercials, these awards are the traditional high point of the Imagina international festival for digital images, held February 3-6 in Monte Carlo. ... A new emphasis was given to video games, with session topics covering research in artificial intelligence, the sociology of massively multi-player games and future directions for game content and interactivity."
http://cgw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=OnlineArticles&SubSection=Display&PUBLICATION_ID=18&ARTICLE_ID=168339
February 13, 2003: Hello, Dolly! By Jennifer Schuessler. The New York Review of Books. Two reviews:
1) "Gaby Wood's sprightly and imaginative book Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life looks back to the time when science and entertainment, the study of life's mysteries and the attempts to build imitations of it, were one and the same. ... The quest for mechanical life has its roots in the ancient world, but Wood begins her story in Enlightenment Europe, where 'the ambitions of the necromancers were revived in the well-respected name of science.' The eighteenth century was 'the golden age of the philosophical toy,' and its most celebrated engineer was Jacques de Vaucanson."
2) "[Rodney] Brooks has just published his own book, Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us , a highly readable overview of robotics that begins with Vaucanson's duck and moves briskly through W. Grey Walter's pathbreaking mechanical tortoises of the 1950s (which learned conditioned reflexes the same way any carbon-based animal does) to a radiant future when we will finally let go of our sense of 'tribal uniqueness' and embrace a robot-enabled super-longevity -- if the machines don't kill us all off first, that is. Brooks's own research concentrated on so-called 'humanoid robots,' mechanical life forms that know how to behave at a cocktail party."
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16058
February 13, 2003: Professor directs two tech efforts. By Dave Lundy. Chicago Sun-Times.
"Kris Hammond spends every day commuting between two different worlds. As director of Northwestern University's Intelligent Information Laboratory (InfoLab), Hammond helps students and faculty explore efforts to reduce the friction between people and technology. As director of NU's Information Technology Development Laboratory (DevLab), he helps develop new technologies so they are ready to succeed in the for-profit world. If anyone has the background to bridge that gap, it is Hammond. After receiving his Ph.D. in computer science from Yale University, Hammond spent 12 years working on artificial intelligence technologies at the University of Chicago. He eventually grew tired of a world of theory without practice, and in 1998 jumped to Northwestern, with his InfoLab and students in tow. He later founded DevLab to help bring technologies into the marketplace. ...
[interview]Q. Why did you decide to focus your career on artificial intelligence? A. I went to college at Yale and, although I was a philosophy major, I ended up working in the computer science department. I liked it so much that I stayed for graduate school and got very involved in artificial intelligence research. I always loved artificial intelligence because you are faced with the awesome problem of trying to use a machine to replicate how people think. ... Q. Tell me about some of your more interesting projects. A. Our first real powerhouse is a program called Watson that uses artificial intelligence to help people search for information. It acts like an assistant that's been reading over your shoulder."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/hitechqa/cst-fin-lundy13web.html
=======================================
PLEASE NOTE: Though we have tried to provide you with links that will be active when you receive this ALERT, be advised that news articles have a tendency to quickly relocate or disappear. The good news, however, is that most stories have several incarnations such that an online search will usually lead to another source. See our News FAQ at
http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/html/springbd.html#newsfaq
=======================================
NOTICE: AI ALERT is intended to keep you informed of news articles published by third parties. The mere fact that a particular item is selected for inclusion does NOT imply that AAAI or AI TOPICS has verified the information or that there is endorsement of any kind.
These policies are further detailed at
http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Author/copyright.html
http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/html/notices.html
=======================================
Because this service is for YOUR benefit, we'd really like to hear from you. Comments, suggestions, and feedback of any sort will be greatly appreciated and should be sent to <<aitopics03@aaai.org>>
THANK YOU
=======================================
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION FOR AAAI MEMBERS ONLY
:::: DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE ::::
::: This is an automated mailer :::
If you've changed email addresses since subscribing to the AAAI Members mailing list or you wish to unsubscribe, please unsubscribe your old email address by sending a message to <<majordomo@aaai.org>> with the following in the body of your message <<unsubscribe aaai-members "email address you subscribed with">>
To subscribe with your new email address, send a message to <<majordomo@aaai.org>> with the following in the body of your message <<subscribe aaai-members "new email address you wish to subscribe">>
For detailed help information about our list server, you can send a message to <<majordomo@aaai.org>> with the following in the body of your message <<help>>
TIP: Since majordomo treats everything in the body of your message as a command, turn off your email signature to avoid receiving error messages back from majordomo.
=== END === END === END === END === END === END === END === END === END === END === END ===
