Adapted from VOA news:
" Researchers Develop Computer with Enhanced 'Artificial Intelligence' " By Jessica
Berman
1 An international team of researchers has developed the first "intelligent" computer that
not only conducts experiments, but designs the research and analyzes the results.
2 The development is considered a breakthrough in the scientific field of "artificial
intelligence," in which computers match wits with their human creators.
3 The first time most people were exposed to the idea of intelligent computers capable
thinking on their own was in the futuristic nineteen sixty-eight film, "two thousand one: A
Space Odyssey."
4 The star of the show was an onboard computer named "HAL nine thousand" that talked
with the spacecraft's astronauts as it piloted a mission through space.
5 But HAL made a "human" mistake that threatened the mission, and one of the astronauts,
named Dave, was forced to disable the rogue computer.
6 From the time computers were conceived more than a half century ago, scientists have
entertained the idea of smart computers capable of learning. But true artificial intelligence,
emanating from metal and circuit boards, has been an elusive goal.
7 But in what is being described as a watershed experiment, scientists in the United States,
Great Britain, and Canada say they have developed a computer model that can think on its
own. In an article published in the journal Nature, investigators describe how they broke the
barrier to artificial intelligence.
8 They built and programmed a computer robot that is able to design simple genetics
experiments involving yeast, carry them out, and interpret the data. "Once we have given it its
basic background knowledge, then it just goes
9 In the experiment, lead author Stephen Oliver, of the department of genomics at the
University of Manchester in England, says computer scientists knew the results of the test run.
That way they could tell whether the robot designed and analyzed the data correctly.
10 "So, now we are engaged in trying to push this further; to try to get it to actually discover
something new." Vincent Hanover, a professor of computer science at Iowa State University,
says many computers are already programmed to collect huge amounts of data.
11 "To the best of my knowledge, it's the first time that someone has actually put together a
complete system with a robot, you know, which is actually running actual experiments in the
lab." That, he says, potentially has a broader application.
12 "When you have a computational model of scientific discovery then you can start asking
questions about how, you know, discovery happens. For now, the experimental computer will
remain within the realm of research into artificial intelligence. Scientists want to see whether
the computer makes a human mistake, like HAL.