Creating artificial intelligence based on the real thing

December 6, 2011 | Source: New York Times

IBM’s cognitive computing chip project has already made some initial progress: a computer running the chip has learned to play the primitive video game Pong, correctly moving an on-screen paddle to hit a bouncing cursor; and it can recognize numbers 1 through 10 written by a person on a digital pad.

Future applications might include robots that can navigate a battlefield environment and be trained; low-power prosthetic devices that would allow blind people to see; and computerized health-care monitors that watch over people in nursing homes and send alerts to human workers if a resident’s behavior suggests illness.