Future face of knowledge preservation
Q Do you envision this form of artificial intelligence being used in a commercial context in the future?
A I think it’s inevitable there will be commercial interests that will look at this technology. I think there’s going to be huge interest in how we can pass on what we learned about life to younger generations. So, I think there are going to be commercial interests that will come up and give the opportunity to say, ‘‘If you’d like to continue or have a form of digital immortality, we’re going to make that happen for you.”
Q When you were presenting, I thought about what impact it would have had on Apple if Steve Jobs could have been digitally reincarnated through this kind of technology.
A In Fortune 500 companies, there’s such a value in having a leader who captures imagination and leads a company from startup to maturity. I can see a point where people say, “We’re going to start backing up the minds of people in this company the way we back up our accounting books because this is vital information to our continued operations.”
Q Many organizations are already using robots as part of their operations. What’s the value of putting faces and names to these robots?
A As humans, we have an exquisite ability to differentiate what’s real, what’s not real, what’s human and what’s not human. When we interact with the essence of the human being — say, the information that’s been preserved digitally — we’re going to have the highest fidelity response when we’re not just going to hear words and sounds but also see facial expressions and movements, because the vast majority of information that happens in communication is non-verbal.
Q What is Bina48’s face made from?
A It’s made of a proprietary material called Frubber that was developed by dr. david Hanson of Hanson Robotics. essentially it’s a polymer that has some unique properties that allow it to be stretched by the motors that are in the face of Bina48. She has 32 servomotors that push and pull her face to co-ordinate or make a number of human expressions, like a smile or a frown.
Q When do you anticipate we’ll see full-bodied robots?
A I think between 2030 and 2050, we’ll probably start seeing independently mobile androids that will have some level of artificial intelligence that will become helpful to people.
Q How do you respond to people who claim that this kind of technology is dehumanizing the human race?
A I think what’s going to happen is human beings are going to be released from the drudgery and slavery of routine tasks that right now are mind-numbing and soul-killing kinds of jobs. It’s incumbent upon anyone right now that’s involved in policy around education to start looking at ways of looking at workers who are performing tasks that are fairly repetitive and being done every day in the same way, [because] those are the first jobs that are probably going to be automated. I don’t think that’s a bad thing because I think human beings are meant to have a richer life than just doing the same repetitive tasks. Although, there may be some people that enjoy that, so there will always be a place for people to perform work at all different levels.
Q So, you don’t see it as having an adverse impact on employment and the economy?
A I think initially there will be an adverse impact for people during that transition time when people are actually not having any alternative skills or haven’t had the support to transition. But in the long run I think it will give a better quality of life to people.