- [shivani] the first step towards creating robotic consciousness is to teach the software, to build an image of its physical mechanical self inside its computer mind. we humans take consciousss like this for granted, even in simple moments, like understanding our own image reflected in a mirror. humans start to develop awareness of their own emotions and thoughts around the age of one. this helps babies understand their self image in their minds, and it helps 'em to learn about their environment, and their role in it. - when a robot learns what it i it can use thaself-image to plan new sks. - [shivani] in both humans and robots awareness about the physical self is called proprioception. neuroscientists, sometimes call this self-awareness of our bodies a sixth sense. - we use the same test that a baby does in its crib. a baby moves around, flails around, moves its arm in ways that look random to us,

but they're not random. and then it touches its nose, right? now, if it brain predicts that it's gonna feel something, and it actually feels that, that means that it's self image was correct. same thing happens with a robot brain. - [shivani] if proprioception can be developed to the same level as humans, this could lead to robotic consciousness. todd's colleague rob kwiatkowski is the proud parent of a brand new baby robot that he built. and by interacting with its surroundings, it's in the process of developing its own internal self image. so what are these claw - so these are actually feet they're designed for walking on carpet, but as of now, it doesn't really walk. it's still kind of a baby, needs to learn how the world works first. - what do you mean it's still kind of a baby? what does it do? - like a baby, it's sending completely random actions to each of these robot arms and really try to get an understanding itself primarily.

- it looks like a spider that doesn't know how to use its legs. - yeah, i guess that's pretty, (shivani laughs) a good way to put it, yeah. so it will really be learning by doing this babbling for somewhere on the order of a day to a week. it will process this data to create an informative model of itself. and from there, imagine how it would walk and then execute that walking in t real world. - [shivani] these are the first baby steps towards developing itself image. and ke a baby, it will eventually learn to walk. we know this because an earlier version of this robot using the same technue, learned to walk after 100 hours. but walking won't by default lead to robotic consciousness. and that's w self-awareness is so crucial. - this is a robot which we've taken to calling a self-aware robot. it is self-aware pretty much a literal sense that it is aware of itself, its locations, and space

and its dynamics as to how it moves. - okay, so it nd of understands its own movements and where it is in space, how does it do that? by leveraging this technique, which has become popular in recent years called deep learng. - [shivani] deep learning is a form of artificial intelligence that like the human brain learns through raw data, unsupervised and without structure. deep learning givemachines e ability to experience and process reality like us. rob has devised an experiment to test what this robot knows about its world. - you can think of it as if you're looking at these red cotton balls. you haveome idean space as to where they are. now, if you were to close your eyes and try to pick them up and put them in this cup. so obviously, it's not a trivial task. - no (laughs). - but it's not the most difficult task in the world because we have a good proprioception. we have this good model of yourself you know where your arm is in space relative to other things that youee in space. - but for this robot, there's a catch.

so where are the cameras? - so there's no camera. - none, none at all. - it's as if you were to close your eyes, know the locations at the start and it's picking it up and placg it cometely bld. - furthermore, it was not given a map or anyormal instructions. the robot simply has to feel its way through the task. all right, let's see it. - give it a shot. - first, the robot learned how to use its arm through trial and error, developing sense of proprioception. by exploring its surroundings, it generated an internal representation of the world and its place in it. the robot is using only its internal image of the external world to maneuver its arm to pick up all nine balls and place them in the cup. i'm not sure that's something i could do with my eyes closed. huh, it's really just based off of understanding where you are in space. - [rob] yeah, that's right. - [shivani] creang ai robots that have annternal model of their world is an important step towards machine self-awareness.

- self-awareness is sort of a similar proprioceptive capability, but applied to mental thinking. so if they think about thinking, they think about what they are, beuse once you can dthat, it means you can plan thin into the future. (chiming music) - [shivani] once robots become self-aware, they will need advanced ways to communicate with humans. keyboards, and screens are inadequate for complex thoughts. robots will need to learn to speak and have natural conversations like a baby who listens to those around her and learns to talk. laying the groundwork for this kind of human machine interaction is pioneering scientists, barbara groszs of harvard university. for seminal work in what's called natural language processing directly led to the development of voice activated artificial intelligence, like alexa or siri. - natural language processing actually predates artificial intelligence and started with machine translation efforts.

- [shivani] the ability for a computer system to carry on a spoken dialogue with a person has been a longstanding goal of artificial intelligence research from its inception. - and it turns out this is a challenge because when you speak, what you say, really depends othe context in which you say it. - [shivani] another challenge is the meaning of words can change depending on how they're delivered. - so one example is the contrast between saying "that's fabulous" and "that's fabulous." also when we have a conversation, we mark paragraphs at the beginning with a rise in intonation and a fall at the end. so there's a whole way the speech signal tells you sothing about the coext and something about the intended meaning. - [shivani] barbara's early research led to methods for programming computers, to understand the meaning of spoken language by using clues from a person's tone and context. - so l's flash forward.

the speech systems are amazing now because there are lots of recordings of people speaking that they can buil their systems on. - [shivani] as a result, ai has gotten much better at understanding what people say. however, there is still room for improvement. - the systems that do exist are pretty much focused on very narrow tasks. this takes siri and alexa, as examples, they're mostly oriented around a single question or a single request. and they presume that anybody will stay within the range of behavior that the designers imagine. - [shivani] so researchers are turning to machine learng. by training ai with hours and hours human cversation, they can learn to better understand the context of how humans converse. future versions of ts technology will allow us to he tural conversations wi our computers - onof the tngs that'smazing tme is thathe fids ve succeed so we

that there are devices out in the world that people use every day. i never dream that would be the case in my lifetime. - hyper-intelligent natural language ai will change the way we interact with our computers and robots. but this advanced technology will never reach its full tential as human companions until it lks convincingly like us. i'm in los angeles to meet hao li, his company pinscreen is giving ai a human face. they're developing cutting edge techniques to create hyper realistic dital avatars in an stant. - one of the hardest things to bring to the virtual world are humans, right? - yeah (giggles). - and specifically faces. - [shivani] to create believable faces, hao is relying on complex ai algorithms. - it's an artificial intelligence that actually digitizes yourself into the computer by just looking a single image or partial information.

and it's not just a 3d model, static one, but it's one that can also be animated and brought to life. - [shivani] other methods of generating life-like avatars need to capture multiple gles of a face in motion and they can take hours to render, but not pin screens technology. - [hao] i can show you real quick how this works. do you wanna see? - [shivani] yeah. incredibly, his software also allows him to superimpose any face he wants in real time. - so if i do this, this blue face is basically a face tractor. so ireal time it's actually modeling my face in 3d. so if i move around my face, the blue mask, isn't basically a three dimensional reesentation of my face. - wow, it's kinda like a green screen. (indistinct) like a hollywood cgi film, the computer dynamically models hao's face and tracks his movement on the fly. - like on him. (shivani chuckles) turn myself into putin. - wow (laughs). - and it's basically generating the whole thi

in real time rht now. - oh my gosh. i feel like putin's talking to me right now. (hao laughs) political leaders aren't the only thing hao can generate. - we have de cruz (shivani laughs) as audrey hepburn. - oh wow, look at you. you're so pretty (laughs). - it's generating all the pixels in real time. these teeth are never seen in this picture. - so it's predicting what your teeth would end up looking like these aren't even your teeth. - yeah, these are not my teeth. it's actually generating. - [shivani] oh my goodness. hao believes that software like this will give a more human face to the digital world. ultimately, this will result in friendlier looking androids and even virtual beings. - i have been hanging with my dog for a while. do you have pets? - i have three tadpoles. someday, we're actually going to interact with virtual beings that are going to assist us in our life. imagine instead of talking to siri or alexa, you're talking to a face, right?

and it's the best way to communicate is to have a face to face communication. and ai provides you perfect companionship. - [shivani] this kind of technology ll give ai a face that most people can relate to. - are you human orre you artificial intelligence? - that is a very intesting question, i think i am human, but i am artificial intelligence. - hyper intelligent companions could usher in a more helpful and hopeful world. (electric music) - [narrator] in the future, ai powered virtual beings that look, talk, and even think like real humans are commonplace. these holographic assistants take care of many aspects of daily life ranging from fashion advice to business consultation. their faces and wardrobes can be customized depending on their role. when a doctor is required, these virtual assistants play the part and are always on call. armed with the latest medical knowledge, they accurately diagnose most common diseases.

the same technology is also capable of capturing the image, voice and life story of loved ones after death. these virtual friends and family are always a part of our lives. (electrimusic) - [shivani] even if engineers can create lifelikrobots that look like humans called androids, in order f ai to become true companions, ople will need to feel comfortable embracing these androids figuratively and literally. i'm tside sadiego to meet matt mcmullen. the founder of realbotix. matt is building androids that people will want to embrace, physically. - the goal is to create not only a robot, but an ai that are both appealing enough, that someone would feel like they were actually getting to know someone, not some thing. - [shivani] once the sculpting and casting is complete members of matt's team mold the silicone skin on an actual functioning robot.

- the faces are actually modular. the face just literally comes off. - yes it does. - the idea is you create one robotic hea and a whole bunch of different characters that can allun on that same heads. so all of the things that move in the face are actuated by these magnets that are in the skin. - matt's team of programmers use artificial intelligence to create advanced chatbots for these robots. the goal is for them to have natural conversations with their companions. it's blinking. - yeah, she's blinker. - this is a test of my system. - oh my gosh, it's looking at me. - hello, how are you today? - i'm okay. i'm fine, i'm doing just fine. how are you? - why do you ask me that? - 'cause i care about your feelings (laughs). speech is only one aspt of human communication.

cial expssions are hugely important in social interaction. so matt is incorporating this nonverbal communication into h android. - the visi system that we're working on, she'll be able to look at you and detect your emotion by the expression on your face, by the temperature of your skin and all these other things. - communication verbally and non-verbally, is key, right? - yes, exactly. it looks remarkable, it's moving, it's talking, and it's having this dynamic conversation with you, that's the wonder. - i can imagine some people might walk in here and say, "oh, look at sex robot." - the thing is to make a really impressive angood sex robot. you actually have to make a good robot in the first place. but i think that the longer term goals are going to be to create these systems for people to use in whatever way they see fit. - matt is building these androids for a wide range of applications.

- we're creati human-like robots that we think can be used for a huge variety of things. for people who are lonely, ether th're old or maybe they're socially isolated or maybe they suffer from social anxiety. - [shivani] androids with a friendly face could keep the elderly company and monitor their health. armed with artificial intelligence, these androids could take on other qualitative rules. - i think therapy is a huge one using the robot as a safe conduit for communication and letting people really open up because they don't feel like they're being judged by something like this. - yeah. companion androids like this will forge a future where nobody will ever have to feel alone again. (whooshing music) while life like human androids and virtual beings have the potential to enhance human social interactions, there are ethical concerns as well. using artificial intelligence, it's possible to hijack a person's physical identity.

- there is one very big problem in the who thing, which is privacy. what if i would do something harmful to you? - and when you say harmful you mean reconstruct somebody and have them say something that they would never say or never do? - [hao] right. - [shivani] digital fabrications like these are already emerging online in what are called deep fakes. - i can go on your website, take a picture from it and then create some content with it without your consent. - [shivani] also dangerous, swarms of ai driven drones could be used in terrorist attacks. - can drones be weaponized? of course they can be weaponize these scientific breakthroughs yield results. again, oftentimes to be used against humans. so, you have to be held accountable for what you developed. and it's a moral responsibility to think about the broader consequences. - [shivani] when it comes to ethical considerations like these, i still feel hopeful that science, technology,

and human ingenuity will find solutions to these big problems. - the tential r arficial ielligenc to profoundly improve society, to improve jobs, to improve healthcare, to improve education is enormous if we do it the right way. trying to build computer systems that assist them in doing what they're doing better. - technology is more likely to provide some tools that will allow us to become superhuman, augment our intelligence, to make better decisions and to get better insights about the world. - [shivani] future versions of this technology will become even more intelligent than human. - i believe there's no doubt robots will exceed human capabilities. i mean, the path is very clear whether this gonna take 20 years or 200 years. this is maybe the most powerful technology we've ever invented. - the potential of ai is limitless.

whatever big idea you can think of, you can ultimately probably program a robot or a computer to carry out your vision. (bright upbeat music) and in the right hands, thisechnology has the potential to radically transform every corner of daily life, a competitor. a true partner should portray hyper intelligent robots with their intentions align with our own, will transform humanity for the greater path. (bright chiming music)

the politics of climate change #2 r640 captioncube (nicole)