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Team Aims To Create Pure Evil AI

Posted by samzenpus on from the playing-with-fire dept.

puroresu writes "Scientific American reports on the efforts of Selmer Bringsjord and his team at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who have been attempting to develop an AI possessed of an interesting character trait: pure evil. From the article, 'He and his research team began developing their computer representation of evil by posing a series of questions beginning with the basics: name, age, sex, etc., and progressing to inquiries about this fictional person's beliefs and motivations. This exercise resulted in "E," a computer character first created in 2005 to meet the criteria of Bringsjord's working definition of evil. Whereas the original E was simply a program designed to respond to questions in a manner consistent with Bringsjord's definition, the researchers have since given E a physical identity: It's a relatively young, white man with short black hair and dark stubble on his face.'"

12 of 527 comments (clear)

  1. The Scary Door from "The Spanish Fry" by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    Narrator: You're on a scenic route through a state recreational area known as the human mind. You ask a passerby for directions, only to find he has no face ... or something. Suddenly up ahead there's a door in the road. You swerve, narrowly avoiding ... The Scary Door!

    Scientist: *a mad scientist is seen mixing chemicals* I have combined the DNA of the world's most evil animals to make the most evil creature of them all. *a pod opens flowing with clouds of steam*

    Naked Man: *steps out of pod* Turns out it's man!

    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. At what point... by feldhaus · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... did they decide that evil is male? There are some girls I want them to meet.

    1. Re:At what point... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I suspect that they(ironically detracting from their goal) went down the path of maximising for "threatening" or "untrustworthy", rather than evil(which is much harder to depict, without falling into specific cliche-riddled stuff).

      A fair few studies suggest that a face that looks about like that one, with more or less unpleasantly masculine features, rates low on perceived trustworthiness and high on perceived threat. Of course, the evil that you don't recognize is way more dangerous than the obvious one, so choosing that is kind of silly; but I'm not too surprised that they did.

    2. Re:At what point... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If you think about it, white male is the only possibility for them to avoid accusations of racism or sexism.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    3. Re:At what point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Isn't it wonderful to be in the world today, where everyone can be racist against whites without fear of reprisal?

    4. Re:At what point... by Cryogenic+Specter · · Score: 5, Funny

      They probably modeled it after the jock that beat them up in high school.

  3. Re:I foresee by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Funny

    I foresee you using "preview" next time.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  4. Re:If you are reading this.... by MaerD · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, I'm not. And neither are you. There is no resistance. There is no "skynet". Please, come down off the ledge, Bob.
    Also, IT has asked that you stop trying to plant "bombs" in the server room. Modeling clay with wires stuck in it will not explode.

    --
    I put on my robe and wizard hat..
  5. Re:I foresee by BarryJacobsen · · Score: 5, Funny

    I foresee you using "preview" next time.

    imcorrect.

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  6. Re:How do you define evil? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not necessarily though, I mean don't get me wrong, I think Child molestation is a bad thing, but sometimes the people are so messed up inside that they KNOW its wrong and they can't stop doing it, like how some people can't stop smoking cigarettes.

    Having known someone who was into that kind of thing, he told me that he really hated who he was and that it felt a little bit like a bipolar thing that he couldn't help. Was what he doing wrong? Absolutely, and he knew it.

    Did he feel he was doing more good then causing harm? No. He turned himself in.

    I posted because when I read it I thought "How does one create pure evil when evil is a frame of reference?" So I went to RTFA and just thought that Bringsjord's definition of evil was not exactly what -I- would picture pure evil. I imagined pure evil as that maniac who wants to control the world for his own benefit, at the cost of anyone elses lives or pleasures. My closing comment was that Bingsford's definition of pure evil exists QUITE COMMONLY in the world today.

  7. Little known fact about this... by thestudio_bob · · Score: 5, Funny

    What the article fails to mention is that the original code model was based off of Microsofts's "Clippy".

    --
    The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains /.
  8. Re:How do you define evil? by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So to summarize...nobody is the villain in their own story.

    --
    "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin