The author argues that building robots that mimic human form and function may be a failure of imagination, and that there are many other designs that could complement humans. He also discusses the importance of considering the economic, social, and philosophical implications of robots living alongside humans. The article concludes with a discussion of a project where robots were trained to improvise and engage with each other like people do, using an AI algorithm trained on the preferences of a choreographer.
Key takeaways:
- The author discusses his experience working at Google X, Alphabet’s secret innovation lab, where he was tasked with figuring out what to do with the employees and technology from nine robot companies that Google had acquired.
- The goal of the lab was to create AI-powered robots that could live and work alongside humans, a task that required significant technical breakthroughs in AI and robot technology and billions of dollars in investment.
- The author argues that while robots can learn tasks through AI, it will take thousands or even millions of robots performing tasks in the real world to collect enough data to train them to do anything beyond narrow, well-defined tasks.
- The author also discusses the debate over whether robots should mimic human form and function, arguing that there are many designs to explore that complement humans and that striving for mimicry may be a failure of imagination.