June 25, 2023
“Artificial Intelligence May Soon Come to Life” Innovation and Tech Today, June 2023
Scientists combine Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life to produce self-guided AI agents in the nearest future. The independent AI will pose a new threat that will require unusual security measures.
My name is Dmitry Kukuruznyak. I lead a materials science laboratory at a German research center for developing artificial lifelike matter. In 2023, our team announced that we have found a way to make non-biological brains that reproduce the function of biological neural networks. In combination with the existing AI, it can produce completely autonomous agents.
Our findings suggest that the lifelike AI will be developed through mutations and selective breeding, just like biological organisms. For the evolution to work, people will need to build a diverse ecosystem of the lifelike AI agents, many of which will be unsafe for themselves and humans. To keep us secure, their entire ecosystem must be detained in virtual reality.
January 24, 2023
Bio-inspired artificial intelligence may breathe new life into the VR industry
Scientists are on the verge of creating an artificial brain that works on the same principles as real biological organs. Our recent findings suggest that the bio-inspired artificial intelligent agents will not be created by intentional design, because mathematical modeling of complex biological brains requires prohibitively excessive computational resources. The bio-inspired brain will be developed through evolution and selective breeding. It must be performed in virtual reality because imperfect AI agents can be a danger in the real world. In simple terms, to develop animate intelligent agents, we need to build “the Matrix”, in which humans will play the role of Agents Smiths. We forecast that in the near future people will redefine the main function of the Metaverse. It will be transformed from a people’s recreational facility into an AI breeding farm. In this capacity, it may grow into a global digital infrastructure and become an essential tool for creating new productive forces of great value.
NEWS
Creation of artificial living brain is one of the holy grails of modern science. Our laboratory is pursuing one of the most promising approaches towards this goal. We aim to create non-biological agents that work on biological principles. For this purpose, we develop non-biological lifelike materials that reproduce the function of biological neural networks.
In the future, the lifelike intelligent agents can take over many production and business processes, and become a massive source of cheap labor. This new kind of self-motivated robots may become The Next Big Thing after computer-generated AI and Quantum Computers.
Our recent research findings suggest that the production of the living brains will be radically different from everything that has been done by humans in the past:
Our laboratory has found that the artificial lifelike brains with desired properties are practically impossible to design. They can only be developed by evolution, which involves random mutations and selective breeding. During this process, the manufacturer must build a vast pool of test samples, observe their behavior in different situations, eliminate the undesired agents and select the most suitable ones for further replication and modification; and then repeat the procedure for many generations.
In simple terms, we have confirmed that the artificial living brain will have the same property as the natural one. It is composed of material components that obey well-known physical laws. However, even when the structure of the brain is fully known, its behavior cannot be predicted for all possible situations. Moreover, it is impossible to design a brain with the desired behavior, because it requires too much computation:
As you increase the number of components of a biological system, the number of connections between these components — and the amount of computation — grow much faster than a geometric progression. At the same time, the cost of production of the corresponding physical structures grows only slightly. For this reason, mathematical modeling of biological brains capable of registering complex environments becomes totally unrealistic, whereas full-scale field experiments remain feasible.
CONSEQUENCES
This characteristic feature of the living brain may affect the technological development — and our way of life — in the most profound way.
It turns out that artificial intelligence will not consist of a few models of intelligent agents created by the human genius.
Instead, we will create a vast ecosystem consisting of artificial agents with very different properties; and most of these artificial agents will be far from perfect.
Humans will be engaged in teaching, evaluation, and selection of these artificial forms. In order to achieve the fastest possible evolution, we will need to involve as many people as possible, preferably, the entire population of the planet, including children.
That is not all.
The imperfect artificial intelligent agents cannot be allowed into the real world. Here they will be a danger to themselves and humans. They must be kept in a safe environment of virtual reality.
This means that, in order to breed and test artificial living brains, people will create “The Matrix” like in Wachowski movies. Only this matrix will not be meant for humans. It will be designed for the artificial forms of intelligence. People will visit this Matrix, but they will play the role of Agents Smiths. Or the role of good mentors.
Most likely, this new Matrix will grow from the present-day Metaverse. It already contains pseudo-independent characters, whose main role is to make virtual reality experience more realistic. They are called Non-Player Characters (or NPCs) because their behaviors are controlled by the computer instead of a human player. We predict that these NPCs will be controlled by the physical artificial brains and become the main inhabitants of the metaverse.
We also forecast that in the near future people will redefine the main purpose of the metaverse. It will be transformed from a social platform into an Artificial Intelligence farm. Instead of having fun, people will come there to make money.
This new perspective should drive companies and organizations to modify their investment strategies. Many people are concerned that present-day metaverses will not be popular enough because humans prefer real-life experiences. And low participation may lead to the loss of invested funds.
The adaptation of the metaverse to their new inhabitants can be a game changer. The new perspectives can significantly expand the base of stakeholders and stimulate further investment.
CONCLUSION
In the near future, the computer-based artificial intelligence will be augmented by the bio-inspired artificial brain, which has unpredictable behavior.
However, the lifelike agents will not take over the world. There will be no intelligent terminators. Instead, humans will create an extensive ecosystem of simple artificial living forms. It is important to know that the major part of this new ecosystem will permanently reside in the virtual Matrix. And only carefully selected agents will be allowed into the real world.
The emergence of artificial life will not eliminate humans from production. Only, instead of physical labor, we will be engaged in breeding artificial forms of life. We will become the mentors of artificial intelligent agents.
Finally, the process of evolution occurs over many generations. Therefore, we should not expect that artificial life would match human intelligence in the foreseeable future.