Is the rise of the machines nearly upon
us? It maybe nearer than you think, as Google’s latest acquisition is
in line with their recent purchases of seven robotics firms, including
Industrial Perception, which specialises in machines that can package
goods and Mekabot, which makes humanoid robots. However, as an alternative to being used in the robotics division, it is more likely that the acquisition of
DeepMind
will be used to further improve Google’s current technologies –
including the voice and text search features which are so widely used
today.
DeepMind’s technology could help develop Google’s most recent
‘Hummingbird’ search update, which was created to make Google ‘more
human’ and searches can now understand context, very similarly to what a
human brain does. In addition to its ‘Hummingbird’ search update, the
Google Now app uses ‘predictive analysis’ which enables it to predict
what Android users will do next, before offering relevant help and
information at each step without ever being asked to do so.
The company was set up by neuroscientist Demis Hassabis, along with
Artificial Intelligence experts Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman. The
company website states DeepMind uses ‘the best techniques from machine
learning and systems neuroscience to build powerful general-purpose
learning algorithms.’ They have previously created algorithms for
retailers and game creators. A Report from
The Information states that
Facebook had also been in negotiations to buy the startup.
Interestingly, Google has agreed to set up an ethics board to make
sure the DeepMind AI technology isn’t ‘abused’, sources familiar with
the plans told The Information. The DeepMind-Google ethics board will
be set up to create a series of rules and restrictions over the use of
the technology. This seems all too familiar. Remember Asimov’s 3 laws
of robotics?
Google also hired futurist Ray Kurzweil as Engineering Director back
in 2012. Kurzweil has famously claimed that in just over 30 years time,
humans will be able to upload their minds to computers and thereby
become digitally immortal, an event called ‘singularity’. He also
claimed the biological parts of our body will be replaced with
mechanical parts and this could happen as early as 2100. So maybe the
rise of the machines is imminent. Cue Terminator music…