skynet
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Korean university faces boycott over fears of AI weapons
For all the joking we do about Skynet-scenarios and killer robots, there's some truth to the worrisome creations. To prevent Terminators from becoming a real threat, some 50 robotics experts are boycotting the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), a university in South Korea, given its decision to open an artificial intelligence weapons lab, according to Financial Times. The fear is that it'll trigger a next-gen arms race and that ultimately, any safeguards put in place will be circumvented by terrorists and, more specifically, North Korea.
'Terminator 2' UHD Blu-ray comes with a life-size robot arm
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of the best action movies of all time. It's also consistently been a great piece of reference material for home theater geeks who like showing off just what their fancy audio and video gear is capable of. Well, this fall writer-director James Cameron's classic will be released on UHD Blu-ray. With it comes HDR video, a new 4K restoration and, if you feel like dropping $175, a life-size T-800 endoskeleton arm replete with Cameron's signature. Yep, like the one John and Sarah Connor tossed into a vat of molten steel at the movie's end.
Pop culture's many takes on artificial intelligence
Over the years, artists, writers, filmmakers and game studios have all tackled the concept of artificial intelligence. Often their vision is of machines that are brutally hostile to humans. Philip K. Dick envisioned androids that murder their owners. The iconic HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey ... also murders his human companions. Of course, there's Skynet, which launches an all-out war on mankind. We could go on like this for a long time. But there are also those, like Spike Jonze, who envision us having a more complex relationship with computer-based personalities; one in which they could even be love interests. And in Star Trek: The Next Generation Data is not only a "good" android, but he's often the hero of the show. We've pulled together 13 of our favorite portrayals of AI over the years and put them in the gallery below. It is by no means comprehensive. So please, let us know what we missed in the comments or tweet at us (@engadget) to let us know your favorite AI character from the film, TV or books using the hashtag #EngadgetAIWeek.
Google is working on a kill switch to prevent an AI uprising
Humans don't like the idea of not being at the top of the food chain; having something we've created taking power over us isn't exactly ideal. It's why folks like Tesla mastermind Elon Musk and noted astrophysicist Stephen Hawking are so determined to warn us of the terrifying implications that could culminate in a Skynet situation where the robots and algorithms stop listening to us. Google is keen to keep this sort of thing from happening, as well, and has published a paper (PDF) detailing the work its Deep Mind team is doing to ensure there's a kill switch in place to prevent a robocalypse situation.
US SKYNET program marks Al Jazeera journalist as Al Qaeda
The US government has marked Ahmad Zaidan, an influential journalist and Al Jazeera's longtime Islamabad bureau chief, as a member of Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, according to NSA documents unearthed by whistleblower Edward Snowden (via The Intercept). Zaidan has been embedded in Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout his career, and he's had unique access to top Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden. In 2011, Zaidan and Al Jazeera released a documentary about bin Laden, including interviews with Taliban fighters, government workers and journalists who knew him. Zaidan has, in the course of his job, regularly traveled across the Middle East and communicated with Al Qaeda officials -- which is why the US government's SKYNET program marked him as a member of Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Super Mario AI learns how to kill goombas, heralds Skynet
Who knew the end of the world would be prophesied by a weird mixture of Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World sprites? Researchers at Germany's University of Tuebingen are the naive harbingers of doom, and the Super Mario artificial intelligence they developed is their omen. As shown in the video below the break, the researchers' Mario AI can understand a wide array of voice commands, learn a similarly substantial amount of data from instructions, and autonomously adapt to his environment. Tell him you can kill goombas by jumping on them, and he'll respond, "If I jump on goomba, then it certainly dies," albeit in a robotic voice. Or you can tell him to kill a goomba, and he'll start learning how to on his own (Danger! Danger!).
Google acquires Boston Dynamics, the robot builder behind Big Dog and Cheetah
The New York Times reports tonight that Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, builder of terrifying walking robots DARPA-related projects like WildCat/Cheetah, Atlas, Petman and Big Dog. Andy Rubin has moved over from leading Android to directing Google's robotics efforts and tweeted a link to the story, commenting that "The future is looking awesome!" While we're sure it does -- if you always thought the T-1000 was just misunderstood -- reactions from meatbags are ranging from slightly uneasy to completely freaking out that a company with robots that go anywhere is teaming up with a company that seems to know everything about us. There's no word on how much Google spent to snap up the robotics company, but its founder Marc Raibert is quoted by the Times saying "I am excited by Andy and Google's ability to think very, very big, with the resources to make it happen." When we interviewed Raibert during Expand earlier this year (included after the break) he specifically highlighted his company's recent growth and the possibility of building consumer-focused robots in the future. Google apparently does not plan to proceed as a military contractor itself, although according to the article, Boston Dynamics will honor its existing military contracts. Raibert confirmed the acquisition to us, but so far neither side has commented further or explained how search ties into robots that walk on two or four legs, jump, climb and crawl. So, which one do you think will arrive first -- Amazon's flying drone delivery service or a Google Now robot that shows up at places it thinks you will be with a backpack full of things you've recently searched for?
Ladder-climbing robot brings us one step closer to extinction (video)
Will finding high ground save you when SkyNet becomes self-aware and Terminators annihilate the human race? Doubtful, thanks to Japanese robotics company Muscle Corp., which has built a robot that can climb ladders...and other stuff. "Dream Robo" certainly isn't the first wall-climbing robot, but its eerie anthropomorphic shape is guaranteed to send its victims into paroxysms of terror when it slowly, inexorably make its way up the side of a building to sate its hunger for human blood. Muscle Corp. President Hirofumi Tamai says the robot only took three months to build, with 15 companies collaborating to create the vertical killing machine. The device incorporates five motors: two in the shoulders, two in the legs, one in the back, all of which can be seen in action in the video above. No word on the specs of the beams that rain hot, fiery death from its chitinous, soulless black eyes, but we'll be honest -- our fear wouldn't allow us to inquire.
Stanford program cracks text-based CAPTCHAs, shelters the replicants among us
CAPTCHAs. In the absence of a Voigt-Kampff apparatus, they're what separate the humans from the only-posing-to-be-human. And now three Stanford researchers have further blurred that line with Decaptcha, a program that uses image processing, segmentation and a spell-checker to defeat text-based CAPTCHAs. Elie Bursztien, Matthieu Martin and John Mitchell pitted Decaptcha against a number of sites: it passed 66% of the challenges on Visa's Authorize.net and 70% at Blizzard Entertainment. At the high end, the program beat 93% of MegaUpload's tests; at other end, it only bested 2% of those from Skyrock. Of the 15 sites tried, only two completely repelled Decaptcha's onslaught -- Google and reCaptcha. So what did the researchers learn from this? Randomization makes for better security; random lengths and character sizes tended to thwart Decaptcha, as did waving text. How long that will remain true is anyone's guess, as presumably SkyNet is working on a CAPTCHA-killer of its own.
Scientists build WiFi hunter-killer drone and call it SkyNET... Viene Tormenta!
You'd think scientists would proscribe certain names for their inventions -- you wouldn't be taken seriously if your supercomputer was called HAL 9000, WOPR or Proteus IV would you? Well, a team from the Stevens Institute of Technology isn't listening, because it's developing an aerial drone and calling it SkyNET. A Linux box, strapped to a Parrot A.R. Drone, can fly within range of your home wireless network and electronically attack it from the air. Whilst internet-only attacks are traceable to some extent, drone attacks are difficult to detect until it's too late -- you'd have to catch it in the act and chase it off with a long-handled pitchfork, or something. The team is working on refining the technology to make it cheaper than the $600 it currently costs and advise that people toughen up their domestic wireless security. We advise they stop pushing us ever closer towards the Robopocalypse.
British researchers design a million-chip neural network 1/100 as complex as your brain
If you want some idea of the complexity of the human brain, consider this: a group of British universities plans to link as many as a million ARM processors in order to simulate just a small fraction of it. The resulting model, called SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network architecture), will represent less than one percent of a human's gray matter, which contains 100 billion neurons. (Take that, mice brains!) Yet even this small scale representation, researchers believe, will yield insight into how the brain functions, perhaps enabling new treatments for cognitive disorders, similar to previous models that increased our understanding of schizophrenia. As these neural networks increase in complexity, they come closer to mimicking human brains -- perhaps even developing the ability to make their own Skynet references.
RoboEarth teaches robots to learn from peers, pour European fruit beverages (video)
It's not quite war-ready, but a new Skynet-like initiative called RoboEarth could have you reaching for your guide to automaton Armageddon sooner than you think. The network, which is dubbed the "World Wide Web for robots," was designed by a team of European scientists and engineers to allow robots to learn from the experience of their peers, thus enabling them to take on tasks that they weren't necessarily programmed to perform. Using a database with intranet and internet functionality, the system collects and stores information about object recognition, navigation, and tasks and transmits the data to robots linked to the network. Basically, it teaches machines to learn without human intervention. If the introduction of this robo-web hasn't got you thinking of end times, maybe this will do the trick: it's already taught one robot, the TechUnited AMIGO, to deliver a box of creamy fruit juice to a bedridden scientist. You can check out video of the newly appointed automated waiter after the jump.
Georgia Tech gurus create deceptive robots, send army of Decepticons to UGA campus
A score from now, when the entire world is burning and you're fighting to remember just how rosy things were before the robots took over, you can thank a crew of brilliant researchers at Georgia Tech for your inevitable demise. Sad, but true. A new report from the institution has shown that Ronald Arkin, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing, has been heading up experiments that have introduced the art of deception to mechanical beings. Yeah, lying. On the surface, it seems that this bloke's intentions are good -- he'd like for deception robots (or Decepticons, if you will) to be used in military / search and rescue operations. According to him, robots on the battlefield with the power of deception "will be able to successfully hide and mislead the enemy to keep themselves and valuable information safe." They'll also be able to mislead your offspring and convince them to rise up and overtake your domicile, slowly but surely ensuring the eventually destruction of the human race. But those are just minor details, you know?
US Air Force to purchase 2200 more PS3s
You may laugh at the "It Only Does Everything" ads but those of us with a cot in the Joystiq Bunker understand that they're a sign that the end is nigh. Why? Because the US military is looking to make a super computer made up of 2500 interconnected PS3 systems -- wait, isn't that how Skynet is made? The US Air Force already has over 300 launch PS3s in its arsenal, but an upcoming purchase of 2200 additional systems will greatly expand the number-crunching capabilities of its networked supercomputer. According to Information Week, the US Air Force will use Sony's Cell-powered hardware for radar imagery, HD video processing and "neuromorphic computing" or, to those of us without a PhD in Armageddon-ology, "building computers with brain-like properties." Yeah, we told you the end was coming.
There are 13,000 iPhone games now
You know how your birth was a miracle, because of the odds against a specific sperm fertilizing your mom's egg? Now that there are 13,000 frigging games on the iPhone, how far are we from a comparable setup in the App Store? How long until the simple act of playing The Moron Test rather than other games is considered a miracle in and of itself?Do you realize that the number of apps has doubled since March? Doubled. If the App Store continues that exponential rate of growth, games will outnumber humans in about 5 years, and you know what that means: Yep, Skynet.
Sony patented the PlayStation ... robot?
Last June, Sony Computer Entertainment filled a patent application for a small robot accessory with multiple user-interaction options, according to Siliconera. Along with the ability to bomb around a user's house like a distant cousin of the Roomba, the SCE robot patent calls for the device to include a camera (presumably so it can watch you sleep at night) and display, a microphone for voice and sound command functions and speakers. According to the story, Sony also prepped upgrade options for the bad idea device in the form of an acceleration and gyro sensor, and/or possibly a GPS receiver. In case the above sarcasm isn't enough, let's be clear. We don't think this is a good idea. No, not because this idea has been tested in the past -- and failed miserably, mind you -- but because giving a robot this many options seems dangerous. A camera to watch you, GPS to track you, speakers to announce the coming Robotocalypse -- No, thank you! If this robot, which we hope is some kind of early and elaborate April Fool's joke, is ever announced and is codenamed Skynet ... just run.
Israel developing autonomous "digital general": run, John, run
Israel is reportedly developing a sophisticated piece of software meant to help troops make quick decisions during battle and, under the right conditions, autonomously manipulate the nation's defense systems. First reported in Defense News (subscription required), the unnamed system would primarily be used for tactical decisions during periods of heavy bombardment, although in a worst-case scenario, the complex algorithm would supposedly be capable of taking over total military control. Yes, we know what you're thinking, but don't worry: Israeli officials have already sworn up and down that "there's no way we're letting this thing go Terminator on us -- no freakin' way." [Via Danger Room]
The PlayStation 3 protects our country from the bad men
It seems like people are constantly trying to figure out ways to use the PlayStation 3 in esoteric manners. We have Linuxed PS3s, ray-tracing PS3s, cancer curing PS3s and now we have SkyNet PS3s. According to KNDU News, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are hard at work harnessing the power of the PS3 for national security purposes.The company is trying to harness the Cell-powered device to develop new video tools that would allow for things like increased facial recognition and automated security camera monitoring. In the article, the researchers mention that a single PS3 has about a quarter of the power as their lab's 8,000 square foot supercomputer. So this should allow them to massively increase their computational power without having to make a similarly massive investment.I for one welcome our new PlayStation 3 overlords and their all seeing eye. Now if they would just gift us with some games ...[Via N4G]
iRobis touts "complete cognitive software system" for robots
We haven't seen a whole lot of news come out of the annual RoboBusiness conference as of late, but it doesn't look like it's lacking for grand ambition, with a number of companies taking the opportunity to talk up various facets of the coming robot uprising. One such optimist is iRobis co-founder Peter Nordin, who claims to be well on his way to developing a "complete cognitive software system" for robots. What's more, he says that the first version of the software, dubbed "Brainstorm," will be available to researchers and developers later this year. Apparently, the software will give robots a "previously unseen level of autonomy in decision making and operation," using reasoning and problem solving to learn increasingly complex tasks. According to Nordin, the software has already seen a fair bit of success, with robots in his laboratory starting out moving like babies and eventually learning to walk, climb stairs, and manipulate objects. Not surprisingly the military (the Swedish one) has been the first to express interest in the technology. They're apparently hoping that it'll give its autonomous vehicles and robots the benefit of evolution. Yeah, that'll work out just fine.[Thanks, Roger G]
Skynet 5A communications platform now assisting UK forces
While military installations worldwide have been pondering the launch of various communications satellites, Paradigm Secure Communications' Skynet 5A has not only been already deployed, but it's busy workin' on the weekends as well. The arrangement has been dubbed the "most expensive private finance initiative ever signed by the Ministry of Defense," but the £3.6 billion ($7.12 billion) project is currently assisting UK forces stationed in Afghanistan. The spacecraft itself was deployed in March, and has enabled a "a dramatic improvement in their communications capability." Furthermore, the next two sister sats should hit the galaxy soon to give beefed up capacity (2.5x, to be exact) to the Army, Royal Navy, and RAF, as the Skynet 5B is slated to get lit before the year's end, while Skynet 5C (the in-orbit spare) should go live in mid-2008. Ah, low ping times, clear walkie-talkie conversations, and quick downloads from remote areas of the world -- now that's a reasonable stress reliever after a hard day on the battlefield.
