As one gets older, one becomes ever more set in one’s ways, and one increasingly uses words like one to refer to oneself. One manifestation of this is that I often find myself responding to things with “canned” replies, as if flying on conversational autopilot mode.
Take, for example, when someone says, “So, that’s the plan.” My default retort is, “Let’s call it ‘Plan A’ so no one gets confused.”
Alternatively, I might trot out the old chestnut, “If we don’t have a plan, we’re no better than the French!” (but not if I’m conversing with a French person because they famously have no sense of humor… or taste, as evidenced by the fact they foolishly disparage English haute cuisine).
These were my only “go-to” rejoinders on the ‘plan’ front … until now. Earlier today, a friend introduced me to a quote attributed to Spike Milligan: “We haven’t got a plan, so nothing can go wrong!”
That just made my day (I’m easily amused). I wonder how long it will be before I find a way to work this tidbit of trivia into one of my columns (Oh, wait…).
But we digress…
My poor old noggin is currently brimming over with ponderings pertaining to artificial intelligence (AI); more specifically, to AI-powered robots and AI-powered holograms. I’ve written about both topics in the last couple of years, but all sorts of new ideas are popping into my head.
Before we go there, however, I’d like to share another interesting nugget of knowledge that just sauntered across my sensorium in the form of a design challenge intended to stimulate the commercialization of compelling and commercially viable MEMS devices.
I just heard from the folks at MEMS Infinity, who tell me they recently launched their MEMS Infinity Challenge. This is a global design competition that directly encourages the design and production of exceptional new MEMS devices. The idea behind the competition is to identify and support the most innovative and commercially viable MEMS device concepts.
The criteria on which entries will be judged are as follows: Novelty, Advancement, Market Potential, Competitive Advantage, Applicant’s Vision, and Ease of Fabrication. The winner will receive FREE foundry services at MEMS Infinity.
But we digress…
Although not 100% related to the topics at hand, I just came across an incredible video on LinkedIn. This features a series of side-by-side clips of people struggling to walk, even with walking sticks in both hands, contrasted with the same people walking confidently with the aid of AI-powered prosthetics. I truly believe the future will bring a fusion of AI-powered prosthetics and neural interfaces, leading to mind-controlled bionics.
But we digress…
I know that robots come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. For example, I just saw another awesome video on LinkedIn showing a non-humanoid robot unpacking a clothes dryer and folding the clothes.
We should note that this video is running at 10X real-world speed, but it’s impressive, nonetheless. Like many people, however, I’m most enamored by the idea of humanoid robots that can hold a conversation and help around the house.
A couple of years ago, I wrote about how BeBop RoboSkin Provides Tactile Awareness for Robots (we’re talking about something so sensitive the robot can read Braille, for goodness sake).
Shortly after that, I penned a piece about how Halodi’s Humanoid Robots are Already Amongst Us. At that time, Halodi’s EVE robots were already performing tasks like patrolling buildings and stocking shelves in supermarkets.
Although an EVE robot has a sort of uni-leg that can bend, it trundles around on a wheeled platform, so it’s not fully humanoid. About a year after that column posted, the guys and gals at Halodi announced they were changing the company’s name to 1X (pronounced “one-ex”/“wuhn-eks”).
As they said at that time: “1X is a leader in humanoid robotics, creating general-purpose robots for the home as a first step in solving physical intelligence. With a focus on safety, 1X is at the forefront of the next wave of robotics, delivering products that are accessible and practical for consumers’ households. 1X’s mission is to create an abundant supply of physical labor through safe, intelligent humanoids that work alongside people.”
EVE is still with us, although it is now named EVE Industrial because these little scamps are predominantly working in industrial environments). In August 2024, 1X unveiled the Neo Beta, a prototype humanoid robot designed for home use. And, just a few days ago as I pen these words, 1X introduced the Neo Gamma as the successor to the Neo Beta, featuring various improvements in hardware, AI, and design to better integrate into household environments.
The Neo Gamma is clad in beige knitwear to “complement living spaces rather than disrupt them.” Well, that’s a bit of a bummer. Our house used to be beige, but a few years ago my wife (Gigi the Gorgeous) decided that beige was out, and gray was in (no “fifty shades” jokes, please). Now all our rooms are light gray with a hint of sea foam or a sniff of smoke or a whiff of lavender or… (who knew that shades of gray could have such evocative and colorful names?). We can only hope that Gigi doesn’t hear about this column, or I will be repainting the house to match the robot she will insist on our buying.
Just last week (as of the time of this writing), I posted my Multiplying the Power of Artificial Intelligence with Artificial Bodies column in which we talked about the Uncanny Valley. This refers to the fact that our affinity for robots grows the more they look like us until we reach a certain point, after which they start to “weird us out” because they are “not quite right.” But what happens when we cross to the other side of the valley? For example, consider Ameca from Engineered Arts:
Eeek! I just realized that none of the above was what I wanted to talk to you about (sorry). I love robots. Robots are great (I hope they remember me saying this when the revolution comes). If we want to have a handy-dandy helper around the home, then a corporeal manifestation will be mandatory. In many cases that don’t involve physically moving things around, however, a virtual presence would surface.
Earlier this year in my I See Holograms Everywhere column, for example, I introduced the Proto company who have created an amazing technology. We can think of this as life-size AI-powered holograms of real people. The folks at Proto have an AI that can observe someone talking (via a live camera or an archived video) and then use this to create a holographic clone that looks and sounds like the real person. This hologram, which is itself powered by AI, is generated on a frame-by-frame basis so that its facial muscles, eye blinks, and other non-verbal communication are 100% synchronized with what it’s saying.
The hologram-driving AI is in the form of a large language model (LLM), which can be loaded with everything there is to know about the person involved. In the case of a living person, the AI can use whatever it knows as the basis for conducting an interview (more of a conversation, really), in which it can ask questions and learn more.
Why did I qualify the preceding paragraph by saying, “In the case of a living person”? Well, as an example, the Walmart Museum in in Bentonville, Arkansas boasts an AI-powered hologram of Sam Walton, who opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.
Sam passed in 1992, but Proto’s AI learned how he looked and sounded from videos, and the AI further augmented its knowledge of Sam the person by reading things like his biography.
Now, AI hologram Sam can have interactive conversations with visitors to the museum. These are real-time conversations about anything, not simply “canned” responses to specific questions.
But we digress…
I love AIs. AIs are great (once again, I hope they remember me saying this when the revolution comes). There are just one or two niggling doubts wandering around in the back of my mind. For example, I still shiver when I recall one of the scenes in the Mother/Android movie (2021) when androids try to wipe out innocent humans (I’m not going to say which scene—you’ll know it when you see it). Of course, there’s also the Extinction movie (2018), where humans turn out to be the bad guys trying to give innocent androids a “bad hair” day.
Also, did you see the 2020 American science fiction crime drama television series neXt? This tale followed a former tech CEO who teamed up with a cybercrime agent to stop a rogue AI system that had gained sentience and posed a significant threat to humanity by manipulating technology and data. And, if so, did you see the recent column in the Independent which informs us that AI Crosses ‘Red Line’ After Learning to Replicate Itself?
How about the column in Time from a few days ago that tells us that When AI Thinks It Will Lose, It Sometimes Cheats? And what about the recent conversation between Richard Dawkins and ChatGPT with respect to whether or not ChatGPT is conscious?
But we digress…
Eeek2! We finally got to the point where I was going to talk about what I originally wanted to talk about, but I’ve run out of time, so we’ll just have to talk about that later. The one thought I have in closing is President Donald Trump’s recent executive order titled Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, which revokes previous AI policies and emphasizes reducing regulatory barriers to innovation.
Well, that’s good. Who needs regulation anyway? It’s only slowing us down. If we can’t trust billionaires and big businesses to look out for our wellbeing, who can we trust? Those silly scientists and know-nothing technologists who have advocated for the regulation of artificial intelligence are obviously weeds and wets of no account.
Happily, now that we no longer have anything resembling a plan, nothing can possibly go wrong, so let’s break out the party hats. How about you—do you have any thoughts you’d care to share regarding anything you’ve read here?
