Are we on the brink of creating artificial life?
Scientists digitise the brain of a WORM and place it inside a robot
The OpenWorm team from California is making a ‘digital’ worm (top right). Their project is recreating the neurons and cells in C. elegans (bottom right), the simplest organism we know of, but has similarities to humans. By making a digital worm the team hope to create artificial life. They have implanted the digital ‘mind’ of the worm into a Lego machine (left). In a video it acts and behaves just like the worm would in the real world. Next year the team will allow people to download their own digital worm.
ROBOTS COULD KILL US ALL IN FIVE YEARS, SAYS ELON MUSK
In a recent comment on futrology site Edge, SpaceX and Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence.
In his comment he feared that the risk of ‘something seriously dangerous happening’ could be in as few as five years.
Although he doesn’t go into detail, he alludes to ‘digital superintelligences’ and internet bots as being among the potential problems facing humanity.
In the comment he says the pace of progress in AI is ‘incredibly fast’.
He continued: ‘I am not alone in thinking we should be worried.
‘The leading AI companies have taken great steps to ensure safety.
‘They recognise the danger, but believe that they can shape and control the digital superintelligences and prevent bad ones from escaping into the internet. That remains to be seen…’