One field within Artificial Intelligence is the study of strong AI or general intelligence. The main goal of research in Artificial General Intelligence is to create an artificial intelligence that is able to duplicate the thinking process of humans. There are many types of research that can be conducted within this field including research into AGI theory, ethics, and system design and implementation (SIAI, Phases, 4-5).
A major contributor to AGI research from the private sector is The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. They plan to conduct research into AGI in two phases. The first phase will be from 2007-2011 and will focus on developing “a unified mathematical and conceptual framework for studying safe, beneficial AGI; and create software tools and technologies to assist with AGI design” (SIAI, Phases, 3). Phase 2 will begin in 2011 and will “if viable, design and engineer safe, beneficial AGI, utilizing the theories, tools, and technologies developed in Phase 1” (SIAI, Phases, 6).
They have divided their Phase 1 research into three types of research: theoretical research, tools and technologies, and system design and implementation (SIAI, Research Areas, 1). Specific areas of research within each type are outlined as follows:
Theoretical Research
- Mathematical Theory of General Intelligence
- Interdisciplinary Theory of AGI
- AGI Ethical Issues
Tools and Technologies
- Customization of Existing Open Source Projects
- Design and Creation of Safe Software Infrastructure
- AGI Evaluation Mechanisms
- AGI Design
- Cognitive Technologies
Another private contributor to research into AGI is the Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute. They have many on going projects including some that are being worked on with the SIAI. Some of their projects include:
- Mizar Conversion Project – using AGI for mathematical theorem proving to aide working mathematician in preparing papers.
- LojbanPlusPlus Parser Project – creating a parser for AI-human communication
- AGISim – a 3-D simulation intended for teaching Proto AGI Systems
Many of the ongoing projects that the AGIRI has are open-source and are in need of individuals to contribute to them (AGIRI, 1).
A leading researcher into AGI in the public sector is Dr. Stan Franklin at the University of Memphis. There he is a member of the Cognitive Computing Research Group. One of the projects that he led and managed was the IDA project. The IDA project addressed the Navy’s job distribution problem by using the Conscious Agent Framework (CCRG, 3). Another project the CCRG works on is the LIDA project, or Learning IDA. This project adds human-like learning to the IDA architecture (CCRG, 1). Another IDA project is the LIDA-AV project, which aims to use LIDA to control an autonomous vehicle (CCRG, 2). This project is worked on in conjunction with the Fed-Ex Institute of Technology/Center for Advanced Robotics. Although AGI has many engineering applications this is not what is most interesting to Dr. Franklin. "My interest in AGI is from the science, rather than the engineering, side. AGI will help me understand how minds work, perhaps the single most interesting problem there is,” stated Franklin (Shephard, 13).
The Mind Project is a research group based at Illinois State University committed to placing research at the center of study into the cognitive and learning sciences. They have active projects from students and faculty from Illinois, USA and Lisbon, Portugal (The Mind Project, 3). One project they have is the ProtoThinker Project written by John Barker at Southern Illinois University. The ProtoThinker contains a simple model of the human mind, and through conversational interaction with this artificial mind, the user can explore the capabilities of real minds (The Mind Project, 4).
The Mind Project also has a line of Iris Mobile Robots that they have developed. This series of robots are able to learn from and interact with their environment. This AI that is able to change its behavior based on its observations and environment is a first step in emulating human thinking (The Mind Project, 5).
There is currently a lot of ongoing research into the field of AGI. Despite some criticism and arguments against the possibility of AGI, research continues. Raymond Kurzweil is an inventor, author, and futurist who has written many books on the subject of artificial intelligence. In response to a question about the future of AGI and classifying strong AI as “dead”, Raymond Kurzweil stated:
"There are hundreds of applications where AI is performing projects that would have required a human level of intelligence a few years ago. Those include diagnosing heart disease, routing e-mail messages, cell phone routing, [and] landing planes. We are now in an era of narrow AI, meaning it's not strong AI. It's not the full range of human intelligence. But it's performing functions that used to require human intelligence. Looking for credit card fraud is one example of that. These were research projects 15 years ago." (McCullagh, 1)
