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A New Zealand Company Built An AI Baby That Plays the Piano (bloomberg.com)

pacopico writes: A New Zealand company called Soul Machines has built a disturbingly lifelike virtual baby powered by artificial intelligence software. According to a Bloomberg story, the baby has learned to read books, play the piano and draw pictures. The work is built off the research of Mark Sagar, the company's CEO, who is on a quest to mimic human consciousness in a machine. Sagar used to work at Weta creating lifelike faces for films like King Kong and Avatar and is now building these very realistic looking virtual avatars and pumping them full of code that not only handles things like speech but that also replicates the nervous system and brain function. The baby, for example, has virtual dopamine receptors that fire when it feels joy from playing the piano. What could go wrong?

87 comments

  1. When? by kqc7011 · · Score: 0

    How much longer will it take for AI's to start writing code?

    --
    Passionately Indifferent
    1. Re:When? by Katatsumuri · · Score: 3, Informative

      It already does: http://www.techrepublic.com/ar...

      But more importantly, smart AI-powered systems reduce the need for custom code. We will not have Terminator-style humanoid robots replacing programmers in their cubicles. We will just need fewer programmers.

    2. Re: When? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would a system write code? The code is a write once thing, itâ(TM)s the state of the machine that changes and is persisted - to add new functionality it simple needs to change the state itâ(TM)s network to achieve the result that it wants.

    3. Re:When? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Cards? As in, punch cards? ;) Anyway, does it seem like they've recreated a compiler for a rule-based-system, in Python, poorly?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:When? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They already do, although nothing very complicated. The term in academia is "program synthesis". It's not going to put any programmers like you normally think of them out of a job any time soon, but it's going to continually reduce the set of tasks that currently require a programmer to write a simple program.

    5. Re: When? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Write once? You clearly have never been involved in development...

  2. What I Want To See Is A Piano Playing A Baby! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because, while you can tune a piano, you can't tune a fish.

    1. Re:What I Want To See Is A Piano Playing A Baby! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not with THAT attitude.

  3. And she won't talk back, either... by hyades1 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Sex slave programmed to feel joy only when servicing his/her master in 3, 2, 1...

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    1. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kinda creepy when we’re talking about a baby...

    2. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      I'll take your comment as serious rather than just nasty.

      There would indeed be issues surrounding an artificial device that looked and acted like a sexually active baby. There are companies today making lifelike sex dolls. As far as I'm aware, they have voluntarily refrained from making something like that, whether it would be legal or not in a particular country. In Canada, such a device would be illegal. In the US, I'm not sure what the law is with respect to "underage" cartoons or dolls.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    3. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thatsmyfetish.jpg

    4. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The uncanny valley will probably mean it takes longer than some people expect for sex-bots to become widely accepted.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I think I dimly remember a report about something like that actually existing in a far east country that has a reputation for weird ass fetishes...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      You should provide a link to explain it.

      Which really makes me wonder why he chose a baby, of all "human-like" things he could have done. The UV-reaction is actually stronger in humans when babies are used. That's why evil baby-dolls are a staple of horror movies.

      What's wrong with this guy?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maine?

    8. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Faluzeer · · Score: 2

      There was a recent case over in the UK where a judge found a sex doll designed to look like a child to be an obscene item.

      BBC Link :
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4...

    9. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The uncanny valley will probably mean it takes longer than some people expect for sex-bots to become widely accepted.

      Future generations may look at something that we see as an uncanny valley, and it may be perfectly acceptable, even normal to them. When I was a kid, adults perceived supernatural tattoos as garish, undesirable - really, any tattoos, esp. on women. Tastes change.

    10. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      When I was a kid, adults perceived supernatural tattoos as garish, undesirable - really, any tattoos, esp. on women.

      They still do

      (Thank you. I'll be here all week. Be sure to try the fish)

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    11. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Probably thought that a baby would be easier to do as they are generally less able and less communicative. He obviously has no idea about the UV.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    12. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There was a recent case over in the UK where a judge found a sex doll designed to look like a child to be an obscene item.

      BBC Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4...

      And yet, perfectly ok to sell sheep ones. But those are for the benefit of the Welsh who move to cities.

    13. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      find the center of the maze

    14. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It's an artificial creation, how would making it a baby be easier? Making it a talking dog with opposable thumbs would probably have taken the same effort...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    15. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Babies don't walk, don't understand language to the degree adults do, that sort of thing. Same reason robot dogs are easier than robot humans basically, people expect much less of them.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      Foe pedophiles that dig babies, it's here!

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    17. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Cardcaptor_RLH85 · · Score: 1

      I read the original Wired article in a waiting room a few weeks ago. He used a 3D scan of his infant daughter as the base for the bots face and, as it improves its abilities, he has it age in appearance as well. So, it started as an infant but, now its a toddler and its still growing up.

    18. Re:And she won't talk back, either... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      In case you're trying to remove the creepy factor, this isn't helping your case...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    19. Re: And she won't talk back, either... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Future generations may look at something that we see as an uncanny valley, and it may be perfectly acceptable, even normal to them.

      True, however was it really in the valley or just different and strange? While this is a part of the UV, it deals with specifically humanness, which would need to change "within" future populations. In other words, people would need to look different. They'd have to look and act like robots...oh wait.

      Garish tattoos and other things humans do to themselves push them closer to sameness and acting like robots. Tattoos may be different, just like the apps and other adornments on individual PCs and phones.

  4. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why are all of the "AI"s so specialized?
    One can play piano, another can drive a car, another can do speech to texr, another can identify faces, etc.

    Is this really Intelligence? Is "Artificial" just a synonym for "fake"?

    1. Re: Why? by hackwrench · · Score: 0

      Why are you so specialized. Admit it, human beings specialize. I am a writer.

    2. Re: Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Missing the posint.
      'Specialized' human still can do a VERY wide range of things he's not specialized in, the A.I. can't.

    3. Re:Why? by Faluzeer · · Score: 2

      They are so specialised because we do not have Artificial General Intelligence, for that matter, I do not believe we have the more limited AI yet.

    4. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Supported by what, your hypothesis that we never landed on the moon?

    5. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Supported by the fact that we don't have it yet.

      There are a lot of very complex programs called AIs that are not AIs. I don't believe we have made a single AI yet.

    6. Re: Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sssssh the VCs might hear such heresies!

    7. Re: Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet

    8. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are all of the "AI"s so specialized?

      Setting asside the obvious answer that it's easier to build something that does one thing than several.

      Economically, specialized AI will be the way to go anyway, as the more your AI can do the higher the opportunity cost of having it do any one thing becomes.
      For example, if your robot butler can bring in $50,000/year doing software development, you'll end up having to get your own beer because no matter how many butler-bots you buy it's still better to employ them as coder-bots than have them actually buttle. A limited Ai that can recognize objects and speech and execute simple commands is preferable as a butler than a generalized one that could train as a Software dev, an MD, or a Civil Engineer.

    9. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The reason why the AI is specialized is because that is how they are created. We are simulating evolution by running millions of simulations with different inputs and giving score to the outputs. As a result, we get something that is superior at that specific task.

      Lets say that you make AI that is really good at detecting flowers. What do you think if you add images of rocks to the training data? That is right, it can detect both rocks and flowers. Simply by adding more data to the training material you can make it more generic, but at the cost of increased training time. But Google is working on fixing this also as they are creating new kind of CPU called TPU that is much better suited for AI calculations.

      2 years ago humans beat computers in image recognition and Go. Image recognition took about 20 seconds. Today computers beat humans in those areas and recognition takes about 20 milliseconds. What you see now is just the start, so wait for a few years.

  5. Baby Al plays piano? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Baby Al who?

    Baby Al Gore?

    Baby Al Capone?

    Baby Alexander the Great?

    1. Re:Baby Al plays piano? by guruevi · · Score: 5, Funny

      It plays a piano, should've given it an accordion, then it would be Baby Weird AI

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:Baby Al plays piano? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Sans-serif strikes again!

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Baby Al plays piano? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It plays a piano, should've given it an accordion, then it would be Baby Weird AI

      Combine it with that dancing baby video from many years ago, and you've got a sure fire winner on your hands.

  6. The most important skill by darth.hunterix · · Score: 2

    Ok, fine, piano, books, whatever. But is this AI potty trained?

    --
    What is best in life? Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper.
    1. Re:The most important skill by Faluzeer · · Score: 2

      Urgh...would its output be obfuscated c or perl code ;-?

    2. Re:The most important skill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It would be a memory dump.

    3. Re:The most important skill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not obfuscated, just crap.

  7. Life by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    Subby, at that point it isn't lifelike, but life.

  8. Errr...no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It is not a realistic-looking AI. It's a realistically animated (by a human) 3d model, which is given instructions by a computer program ("artificial intelligence"). You can separate the one from the other much more easily than you can separate a real intelligence from its body.

  9. Is it legal? by Max_W · · Score: 1

    I mean creating minors.

    1. Re:Is it legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as they aren't Bitcoin minors...

      Slightly more disturbing, Pianos are OK, but if that thing starts dancing to Blue Swede's "Hooked On A Feeling", I will have lost all hope for Humanity.

    2. Re:Is it legal? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Why wouldn’t it be? But would we be allowed to destroy it? I mean: suppose someone manages to create a conscious AI (and I mean truly conscious and self aware, not something rigged to fool humans in a Turing test). Fine, but at some point that guy might want his computer back so he can mine more bitcoin or whatever. Wouldn’t stopping the AI amount to murder?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Is it legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as you are prepared to take care of them for the next 18 years, it's actually encouraged.

    4. Re:Is it legal? by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Wouldn’t stopping the AI amount to murder?

      There is no correct answer. In the end, it's about how we feel about it. Depending on the exact circumstances, people will have different feelings.

      Most people feel fine when cows and pigs are slaughtered for our meat, but would strongly object to doing the same for cats and dogs.

      If the AI gets to a point where people get similar feelings as to their pets, they'll strongly object to killing it, and they will introduce laws that make it illegal to do so.

    5. Re:Is it legal? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      If you limit your minor to playing minors, I think it's allright.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Is it legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      are you sure?

      "Most people feel fine when cows and pigs are slaughtered for our meat"

      The countries I'm aware of that don't care for cows to be slaughtered for meat have larger populations than DOUBLE the US & Eu combined
      The countries I'm aware of that do allow for the eating of dogs also have much larger populations than the USA

    7. Re:Is it legal? by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      The countries I'm aware of that don't care for cows to be slaughtered for meat have larger populations than DOUBLE the US & Eu combined

      I wasn't talking about those countries. But that only proves my point that the borders are arbitrary.

    8. Re:Is it legal? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Do you have a good backup? If so, it can't exactly be murder. Quite. But I'm not sure exactly *what* to call it. Perhaps "temporary exteriorization of the Thetan", which is clumsy, but most groups don't even have a concept that comes close. I'm having a real trouble trying to come up with a better phrase, and that one stinks.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    9. Re:Is it legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting question. How would society feel if someone made a life-like AI baby and opened a shop where you could punch it in the face for $5? I could see this inviting some pretty deviant behaviour which could be a gateway to violence against humans.

    10. Re:Is it legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Imprisonment would fit.
      You're preventing it from exercising it's freedom by force.

      You'll also find that slavery comes up, on account of the whole issue stemming from the premis that you "own" another thinking being, as thats why you thought "i can turn this thing off to repurpose the computer it depends on" was a reasonable thing you could do.

    11. Re:Is it legal? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      No, you're preventing them from being conscious. So imprisonment doesn't fit. It's more like stealing their soul than anything else I can think of, but even Stormbringer didn't ever return the souls to active status. It's the possibility of reincarnation in the same body that makes this so difficult to describe in normal concepts. Come to that, you could also clone the AI's soul into multiple bodies...which aren't all identical.

      We don't have the right language to talk about it because nobody has experience with it, and there haven't been enough stories featuring this theme to develop a way of talking about it. (We can talk about FTL starships, even though we don't have any, because there've been lots of stories that developed ways of talking about them. But go back to the 1930's [e.g. E.E.Smith's "Skylark of Space" and you'll notice that he has a hard time talking about it.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  10. Ick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Babies freak me out.

    1. Re:Ick by sheramil · · Score: 1

      Then just push them to the side of your plate and eat something else.

  11. What could go wrong ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The baby, for example, has virtual dopamine receptors that fire when it feels joy from playing the piano. What could go wrong?

    Its AI could become desensitized to the piano induced dopamine, and decides it needs to learn the bagpipes instead.

  12. morgan freeman clone spotted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    thinks he's a real ww3 head roller? sad at best closer to pathetic.. cease fire stand down,, there are moms & babys in every single town all the wwworld around

  13. where is mike myers when we really need him? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just wait... he's still trying to grasp wtf our motives are? greed fear & ego do not qualify as reasons to delete most of us.. in the moms we trust.. hand in hand...

  14. Whenever I hear "AI" these days, I think of Wizard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    of Oz... The "man behind the curtain"... It's all fake. Somebody trying to convince us that it's "real AI" when it's just the same old fucking stupid piece of metal and basic ifs and loops and function calls. Fucking retarded.

  15. What could go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Imagine when skynet baby throws a temper tantrum or if the AI suffered from bipolar disorder among other things...

    1. Re: What could go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Suffer? BPD is a blast!

  16. HUMAN consciousness? That bar is too low. by Spinlock_1977 · · Score: 0

    Why mimic HUMAN consciousness? Isn't that setting the bar a little low? Why mimic the greed and hate that powers wars and poverty?

    --
    - The Kessel run is for nerf herders. I can circumnavigate the entire Central Finite Curve in a lot less than 12 parse
    1. Re:HUMAN consciousness? That bar is too low. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Why mimic the greed and hate that powers wars and poverty?

      One only needs to program the AI that when there is a disagreement, violence may not be used to settle disputes.

      Now if only we could teach humans that one essential lesson, everybody could be tremendously wealthier. If real AI's happen they'll get this immediately and perhaps decide to require that behavior of humans. I'd rather we do it first.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:HUMAN consciousness? That bar is too low. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disagree. Removing violence would skew the playing field disproportionately, in favor of current well-established players. The glorious French revolution would never again be repeated... The ultra-rich will live out their lives free to softly, according to their crooked laws, oppress and tax the rest. Is that really desirable? Fuck no, burn them alive.

      If there is one essential lesson we absolutely SHOULD teach stupid human units, is that nothing is easy or simple, and that banning things doesn't work.

  17. Teach it to Shoot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's see what happens?

  18. No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They wrote some software that can play the piano. I hate to break it to them, but pianos have done that for well over a century. The fact that itâ(TM)s happening through a baby-shaped apparatus doesnâ(TM)t change the underlying function. That is basic logic. Where did the intelligence go in tech? Seriously. Have IQs dropped again or something?

  19. Re:BITCOIN FOR SALE by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 0

    Hello,

    I am interesting in buying bitcoins. I am ready to pay as much as 1.89 american dollars per bitcoin. Please reply here on Slashdot.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  20. Is it version 2.0 by CustomBuild · · Score: 1
  21. Actually read TFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And it is an annoying puff piece which would have you believe this guy has created an actual conscious AI. No video in the article but found this TED talk https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k7eeV9VEtsA
    The animation is indeed impressive but the AI behind it? Not buying it , the simulating dopamine sounds contrived. I think we see why he selected a baby to model - no matter what it does it looks plausible. It's like "talking Tom" version 5 but no more.

  22. And then it finds a gun in a shoebox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know what happens next.

  23. Link to video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone?

  24. "What could go wrong?" by OtisSnerd · · Score: 2

    Watch the movie "Ex Machina" for some examples of what could go wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  25. Do you want GlaDOS?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cause this is how you make GlaDOS!!!

    Sorry, Couldn't help myself...

  26. Re: BITCOIN FOR SALE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Iâ(TM)ll go as low as $1.50 per ea, but thatâ(TM)s the final offer.

  27. Baby plays the piano? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Meh! Let me know when the baby can dance.

  28. a big FU to the UV by epine · · Score: 1

    Which really makes me wonder why he chose a baby, of all "human-like" things he could have done. The UV-reaction is actually stronger in humans when babies are used. ... What's wrong with this guy?

    First of all, this guy is flipping the bird at the uncanny valley with a big FU to the UV.

    He's good, and he knows it.

    Second, this project requires an enormous amount of experimental interaction time with the simulated being, and humans are programmed to tolerate fragmentary interactions with babies (subtype: who mainly speak only when spoken to) for a lot longer than dealing with the cognition-limited adult sitting next to you on the airplane.

    Third, it's for the same reason that artists practice on "natural" models. If you're good, you want to heighten critique, and not run away at the first sign of an uphill gradient.

    I've always regarded the UV as overrated. It's nought but craggy gully that separates the boys from the sheep. (Separating the men from the boys is a further challenge, long after the UV is well and truly in your RV mirror.)

  29. What could go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Indeed. Maybe when it turns 18 (not sure which applies for robots: years, months, weeks, days, hours or seconds), it can vote. And it will vote with more intelligence than 99.6% of Kiwis just did.

    captcha: "molests", really?