Computer Baby Hol

The creators of the program call it a revolutionary step towards the creation of artificial intelligence. A computerized baby named Hol (the name is taken from Arthur Clarke's Space Odyssey) is, according to the developers, the first artificial intelligence program for personal computers that is not just a designer of language forms, but is able to really imitate communication to learn in the process of "talking" .

The basis of the program - and to a certain extent the starting point in development - is the behavior model and vocabulary of a child aged 15 months. Communication takes place using the keyboard - with the assumption that a child who has barely learned to walk is able to distinguish between letters and syllables in order to display the text of answers on the monitor screen. Despite this, the creators of the program claim that their offspring passed the Turing test, that is, they fooled independent experts, forcing them to believe that they, adults, communicate with the child, who is just starting to speak and build the first phrases. Now the company is working to bring the initial “age” of its program to five years.

The program does not require any special devices other than the usual keyboard. So far, she has the power to create only the simplest designs. For example, to the question of what he would like to play in the park, Hol can answer: "In the ball, mother!" The program operates in English, but can be taught to anyone.

Jason Hutchence, a leading specialist of the company, without undue modesty likened the potential possibilities of this technology to the introduction of electricity into everyday life. "Since it was open, it has been used by millions," he said.

This is probably an exaggeration. But the fact that the “baby” of Israeli scientists, who has low system resources and can be installed on almost any PC, has passed the Turing test - a really serious step forward. Until now, this effect has been achieved only with the help of giant supercomputers, which, of course, require a large amount of resources.

Creating relatively simple computer programs that would be able to chat incessantly, just as any person can do, has long been a popular occupation not only of experts in artificial intelligence, but of many amateurs. But 50 years of research in this area have shown that it is extremely difficult to teach a computer at least something that every person does every day without any effort. Programs for PC, simulating communication, was written a lot. As a rule, they used rigid, predetermined constructions, answering simple questions or statements.

These programs were built on the keyword system and the formal rules of grammatical construction of phrases from the given patterns. Within the framework of these programs, it was possible to operate only with a strictly defined set of cliches, not to use abstract concepts and very carefully place punctuation marks. Such a conversation rather amused than imitated communication.

At the heart of the development of Israeli scientists is a completely different principle. Unlike the programs described above, which use a fairly simple algorithm for shuffling a list of words using the grammar rules introduced, Hol tries to learn the language with the help of a whole set of branched algorithms, as all children do.

Hol can perceive the intonation coloring of a phrase according to its lexical characteristics, and not according to the design scheme, that is, an exclamation or question mark at the end of a sentence. He is able to adequately respond to such phrases that have so far stumped cars, like "time flies like an arrow." Moreover, he is able to isolate a joke from a conversation and somehow respond to it, that is, in a certain sense, has a sense of humor.

The lexical composition of the language and Hol’s “talkativeness” in general depends entirely on the activity of his “caregiver”, that is, the computer owner, in this he is close to tamagotchi and other interactive toys, whose behavior and mood vary depending on the behavior and mood of their owners. The owner of the PC using the keyboard tells the program fairy tales, rhymes, praises or scolds his "baby", generally behaves like a parent. Hol’s only motivation for learning and talking is the encouraging reviews and praise of his "parent".

Unlike a living child who can spend years learning the basics of the language, Hol spends a few days on it. The reason is that a real child, in addition to language, has to learn a very large number of things, the program does not distract anything.

Now the process of debugging the program is as follows: after each “conversation” the trustee assesses how well Hol has learned the material, that is, “praises” it and introduces some new concepts and terms. Thus expanding vocabulary. And the process continues. Instead of “memorizing” ready-made phrases without understanding their meaning, Hol builds his own picture of the world, himself compares the information received and himself links the learned concepts. "The most interesting thing is that we ourselves do not know how he manages this," said Khatches.

The true natural process of learning the language has long since become the holy Grail for prospectors in the field of artificial intelligence, especially since the British mathematician Alan Turing introduced into this sphere a universal test named after him. The essence of the test is as follows: the program must imitate a person so well that its live interlocutor does not suspect that he is dealing with artificial intelligence. Hutches claims that he used the solution of this problem proposed by Turing himself: the author of the test himself stated that it would be easiest for him to go through a car-child capable of learning.