http://artifact.psychedelic.net/~emc/ailinks.html There's a new movie by Steven Spielberg, from a project he picked up from the late Stanley Kubrick, which will likely cause a "Star Wars" like paradigm shift in our way of looking at computer programs and robots. The movie is "AI," based somewhat on the short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," by Brian Aldiss, and is scheduled for release June 29th. The current public perception of robots and artificial intelligence is largely driven by Asimov's writings on the subject, which pre-dated the notion of mobile agents, the Internet, realistic human simulation on von Neumann platforms, and even such common notions as backup and restore. Asimov's "positronic brain" as a metaphor of mechanical thought was forever confined to its irridium matrix, and once switched on, plodded on monotonically until it was destroyed. Spielberg's movie will probably change all that, by switching the emphasis from the robot to the AI, a self-rewriting sentient computer program which functions perfectly well without a robot body, perhaps interfaced to a house, an appliance, or an airplane. Of course robot bodies are unbiquitously available when needed, both in mechanical-appearing and human-appearing models. Enter Haley Joel Osment as the 11 year old boy, who's not quite human, adopted by a family who recently lost an organic child, set against a backdrop of a futuristic society dependent on billions of AIs, where various factions, both human and AI, clash over the issue of rights for the sentients. Also fascinating is the extensive Web marketing compaign, in conjunction with Microsoft, featuring around 30 Web sites set in the time of the movie, with names like "The Anti-Robot Militia" and "The Coalition for Robot Freedom." A mystery surrounding the death of one Evan Chan is embedded in the Web content, with a chain of clues and hints leading readers on a quest to solve the mystery. There is also a not-so-subtle resemblence between the laws governing "Sentient Private Property" in the movie, and the laws governing minors in our society, where they appear very much to be the Sentient Private Property of their parents and guardians. So perhaps the movie will have a consciousness-raising effect in the area of Youth Rights as well. I expect this movie to be a mega-hit, if it is up to Spielberg's usual standards of excellence. Maybe it will kick AI research up a few notches. Of course "AI" is now a registered trademark of Dreamworks. :/ Enjoy the links. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
