Kevin Warwick

• We want to study afresh what artificial intelligence is all about
• We will look at what intelligence is
• We will look at Classical AI
• We will look at different forms of AI
• Key is to open your mind to the different possibilities for intelligence
• Try to not be human-centric.

• What is intelligence in humans?
• What is intelligence in animals?
• What is intelligence in machines?
• Important aspects of mental make up must be considered - myths chopped down to size.
• What is the intelligence of a spider?
• How would an alien regard human intelligence?
• Subjective nature of intelligence is important.

• New English Dictionary,1932, “The exercise of understanding: intellectual power: acquired knowledge: quickness of intellect.”
• Macmillan Encyclopedia,1995, “Intelligence is the ability to reason and to profit by experience. An individual’s level of intelligence is determined by a complex interaction between their heredity and environment.”

• In 1900’s, Binet (inventor of the IQ test) picked judgement, common sense, initiative and adaptability as “essential ingredients of intelligence”.
• Intelligence has even been linked with spiritual awareness or emotions.
• Intelligence in humans is not the only intelligence.
• Comparing intellectual ability between humans standard tests of one type or another are useful.
• We must consider intelligence in a broader sense.

• Intelligence involves communication, planning and (possibly) initiative, reasoning and quickness of intellect.
• We can consider human versions of these, but let’s also consider other animals!

• Bees exhibit individual behaviors in a tightly knit society.
• Communicate with a dance
• Bee returns from pollen collection it wiggles its bottom and moves in a straight line
• Distance moved is proportional to the distance of the pollen source - angle moved is angle between the source and the sun

• Over 30,000 species of spider, each with its own specialties.
• Water spiders live in ponds and build an air filled diving bell out of silk.
• Wait, underwater, for prey - shrimps
• Then the spider pounces - delivers a fatal bite - pulls the prey into its lair - devours it.

• Many creatures have been witnessed learning.
• An octopus is trained to choose between objects
- a second (watching) octopus can then carry out the exact same decision making process
• Many creatures use tools.
• Herons drop morsels of food into water where fish are ‘expected’ to be. When the fish swims to take the bait, the heron catches it.

• Direct comparisons can be made in terms of brain size, numbers of brain cells and complexity.
• A human brain has approximately 100 billion neurons - a sea slug’s brain has 8 or 9 neurons.
• Brain size can be used to ‘prove’ all sorts of results.
• Germany, 1911 - min requirement for a professor, head circumference of 52 cms. Used to discriminate against women. A medical physicist of the time said
“We do not have to ask for the head circumference of women of genius – they do not exist.”
• Gustave Le Bon noted that women have brains closer in size to gorillas than to those of men!

• These serve as examples of using a measure to come to a desired conclusion
• This must be avoided in studying intelligence, yet it appears time and time again
• Also - We should not overlook observable differences because they are not politically correct – Race/Yerkes!

• Intelligence also depends on how a brain senses and activates things in the world.
• Humans sense approx 5% of the signals
• If another being senses the world differently they are not better or worse, merely different.
• It is wrong to say that a creature or machine is stupid because it cannot make a cup of tea
(Tylden) – this is a human task. Only in comparing humans should such a task even be considered as some measure.

• Mental processes sufficient for life.
• Ability to make appropriate and timely choices – Ross Ashby.
• ‘the variety of information processing processes that collectively enable a being to pursue autonomously its survival’

• You are an alien inspecting earth from afar.
• What are the intelligent life forms on earth?
• Vehicles, networks, water, clouds, animals, bacteria, televisions?
• You might apply some tests based on your own concepts of life form and intelligence.
• On your planet the main sensory input could be infra red signals – so your view of earth may not include humans as an intelligent life form

• Considering what humans define as the basics of life can lead to strange conclusions.
• E.g. nutrition, excretion, movement, growth, irritability, respiration, production.
• From an alien standpoint a communications network satisfies these qualities. It could be concluded that a complex global networked intelligence is being served by small drone like simple beings, with smaller brains – humans

• What we regard as being an intelligent act, and what not, is very subjective
• Human centred – e.g. jokes
• Animal centred – bat’s ultrasonic sense
• Machine centred – maths, memory

• When a puppy walks by the side of a person, this can be considered to be an intelligent thing
• Maybe the puppy is satisfying a programme
• When a human can rapidly calculate maths or remember facts these can be regarded as intelligent acts – or they could be regarded as entertainment
• Between species - big problem of comparison.

• Between humans we need to retain a scientific basis for our analysis rather than pamper to social stereotypes.
• Why is knowledge about politics, classical music or fine art more indicative of intelligence than knowledge about soccer, pop music or pornography?

• Why does playing music by Mozart to a baby in the womb make the baby more intelligent, whereas playing Rolling Stones music is dangerous?
• Is there any scientific basis at all for such conclusions? No. Where are the conclusive scientific studies that have shown these things to be so? There are none.

• A social bias runs through human educational systems - results in values associated with subjects
• An individual can be regarded as being stupid because they do not know a particular fact, cannot carry out a mathematical calculation or deal with some aspect of everyday life.
• But this merely represents one aspect of their intelligence

• Humans use the same approach to make comparisons with other creatures or machines.
• We do not give value to non-human abilities, because we do not understand them
• We give value to animals (or machines!) copying some aspect of human abilities – Dolphins are intelligent because they do tricks - sharks are
‘mindless’ killing machines because humans do not share the same values as a shark.

• When assessing the intelligence of a machine, if we wish to claim that it is not as good as a human, we can make comparisons of the machine’s abilities in a field in which humans perform well
• We can compare human abilities with a machine in a field in which the machine performs well – but the result is not so good for humans, so we don’t do it

• Intelligence is subjective
• Need a broader view
• Consider intelligence in animals
• For AI we do not just wish to compare machines with humans – we must remember animal intelligence

• Human Intelligence!

• Web site: www.kevinwarwick.com
• Email: k.warwick@reading.ac.uk
• Tel:2-2435-7299