Since “2001: A Space Odyssey,” people have wondered: could machines like HAL 9000 eventually exist that can process information with human-like intelligence?
Researchers at Michigan State University say that true, human-level intelligence remains a long way off, but their new paper published in The American Naturalist explores how computers could begin to evolve learning in the same way as natural organisms did – with implications for many fields, including artificial intelligence.
“We know that all organisms are capable of some form of learning, we just weren’t sure how those abilities first evolved. Now we can watch these major evolutionary events unfold before us in a virtual world,” said Anselmo Pontes, MSU computer science researcher and lead author. “Understanding how learning behavior evolved helps us figure out how it works and provides insights to other fields such as neuroscience, education, psychology, animal behavior, and even AI. It also supplies clues to how our brains work and could even lead to robots that learn from experiences as effectively as humans do.”
According to Fred Dyer, MSU integrative biology professor and co-author, these findings have the potential for huge implications.
“We’re untangling the story of how our own cognition came to be and how that can shape the future,” Dyer said. “Understanding our own origins can lead us to developing robots that can watch and learn rather than being programmed for each individual task.”
The results are the first demonstration that shows the evolution of associative learning in an artificial organism without a brain.
Here is a video showing the process.
“Our inspiration was the way animals learn landmarks and use them to navigate their environments,” Pontes said. “For example, in laboratory experiments, honeybees learn to associate certain colors or shapes with directions and navigate complex mazes.”
Since the evolution of learning cannot be observed through fossils – and would take more than a lifetime to watch in nature – the MSU interdisciplinary team composed of biologists and computer scientists used a digital evolution program that allowed them to observe tens of thousands of generations of evolution in just a few hours, a feat unachievable with living systems.
In this case, organisms evolved to learn and use environmental signals to help them navigate the environment and find food.
“Learning is crucial to most behaviors, but we couldn’t directly observe how learning got started in the first place from our purely instinctual ancestors,” Dyer said. “We built in various selection pressures that we thought might play a role and watched what happened in the computer.”
While the environment was simulated, the evolution was real. The programs that controlled the digital organism were subject to genetic variation from mutation, inheritance and competitive selection. Organisms were tasked to follow a trail alongside signals that – if interpreted correctly – pointed where the path went next.
In the beginning of the simulation, organisms were “blank slates,” incapable of sensing, moving or learning. Every time an organism reproduced, its descendants could suffer mutations that changed their behavior. Most mutations were lethal. Some did nothing. But the rare traits that allowed an organism to better follow the trail resulted in the organism collecting more resources, reproducing more often and, thus, gaining share in the population.
Over the generations, organisms evolved more and more complex behaviors. First came simple movements allowing them to stumble into food. Next was the ability to sense and distinguish different types of signals, followed by the reflexive ability to correct errors, such as trying an incorrect path, backing up and trying another.
A few organisms evolved the ability to learn by association. If one of these organisms made a wrong turn it would correct the error, but it would also learn from that mistake and associate the specific signal it saw with the direction it now knew it should have gone. From then on, it would navigate the entire trail without any further mistakes. Some organisms could even relearn when tricked by switching signals mid-trail.
“Evolution in nature might take too long to study,” Pontes said, “but evolution is just an algorithm, so it can be replicated in a computer. We were not just able to see how certain environments fostered the evolution of learning, but we saw populations evolve through the same behavioral phases that previous scientists speculated should happen but didn’t have the technology to see.”
Other MSU co-authors include Robert Mobley, Charles Ofria and Christoph Adami. This project was developed through the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, which brings together biologists, computer scientists and engineers to illuminate and harness the power of evolution.
“Pontes and colleagues have evolved associated learning in a computer from the raw ingredients of mutation, inheritance and competitive selection,” said George Gilchrist, program director at the National Science Foundation, which funds the BEACON science and technology center. “This opens the door to creating artificial intelligence systems without the limitations imposed by human design.”
Learn more: EVOLUTION OF LEARNING IS KEY TO BETTER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Latest on: Evolution of artificial intelligence
[google_news title=”” keyword=”evolution of artificial intelligence” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Evolution of artificial intelligence
- HipARTE: The Evolution of Arts and Friendship brought to you by an evOLVEon May 17, 2024 at 1:17 pm
HipARTE, the fusion of Hip Hop and Art, is not mere Artificial Intelligence (Ai), but more like a Fine Wine (Wi-Fi) that gets better with time. As we embark on this journey with {a2c} we invite you to ...
- The Evolution of AI Model Training: Beyond Size to Efficiencyon May 16, 2024 at 9:12 am
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the traditional approach to enhancing language models through mere increases in model size is undergoing a pivotal transformation. This ...
- A Bull Market Is Here: 2 Artificial Intelligence Stocks Down 27% and 60% to Buy Right Nowon May 13, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Additionally, demand for AI products remains strong, even as investors have sold off AI stocks in recent weeks. Super Micro Computer just reported year-over-year revenue growth in its fiscal third ...
- Artificial Intelligence in Sports Betting: A Game Changer for Odds Makingon May 10, 2024 at 2:03 am
Explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing sports betting by enhancing odds accuracy and enabling real-time data processing, ...
- Promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence in healthcareon May 9, 2024 at 4:59 pm
The evolution of AI can mean exciting things for healthcare ... with the internet having eclipsed our wildest imaginations. This brings us to artificial intelligence (AI), which is defined as “…the ...
- Artificial Intelligence And Human Expertise In Graphic Designon May 8, 2024 at 4:15 am
Technology has long been a key part of graphic design, but modern AI-powered tools are going beyond traditional tools by leaps and bounds.
- The Influence of Artificial Intelligence on Family Law: Evolution or Revolution?on May 6, 2024 at 1:09 pm
Artificial intelligence (AI) can revolutionize legal research and assist with preparation of pleadings by significantly improving speed and accuracy. With abundant legal information across various ...
- Workplace evolution: How AI is redefining the future of workon April 30, 2024 at 2:52 am
In the dynamic landscape of the modern workplace, artificial intelligence (AI) stands as a catalyst, reshaping how we operate and collaborate. As AI rapidly evolves from a concept to a cornerstone of ...
- The Evolution Of Military Drones: Harnessing The Power Of Artificial Intelligenceon April 27, 2024 at 5:00 pm
In recent years, the fusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, has revolutionised military operations worldwide. What began as simple ...
- The evolution of cybercrime in the era of Artificial Intelligenceon April 27, 2024 at 5:00 pm
As technology continues to evolve and Artificial Intelligence takes a more prominent role in many aspects of the modern world, cybercriminals and those trying to combat cybercrime have been ...
via Bing News