|
COPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service
From HAL to Haley Joel Osment, artificial intelligence has remained a favorite staple of science fiction. But over those same 30-plus years, enthusiasm for a real "thinking machine" has fizzled.
At the time of "2001," some researchers thought we could develop an intelligent computer by 2001. Now that the year has arrived, such a goal seems fantastic _ perhaps even impossible.
"No one thinks of making a machine like a human, that's not even a goal," says Rina Dechter, a professor of computer science. "I saw `A.I.' It was," she shrugs, "cute."
Dechter is on the faculty at the University of California, Irvine's Artificial Intelligence Lab, one of the few academic centers devoted to the field. But the work of the AI Lab is a far cry from robotic boys or "will I dream?" They're still trying to figure out "hello."
Computers continue to grapple with problem-solving skills humans take for granted: common sense, intuition, the ability to distinguish the important from the trivial. The challenges of 1968 are the same today.
"Unfortunately, we're down to incremental, evolutionary steps," says Michael Pazzani, another lab professor. "We're tackling smaller...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
