New Movie Trailer: Ex Machina

Saw this today and had to add it here. This is the first film to be directed by Alex Garland. Garland has worked with one of my favorite directors in producing screenplays (Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and Sunshine) as well as the novel The Beach which was turned into the DiCaprio film of the same name and the screenplay for Never Let Me Go.  With that excellent track record of smart, independent writing and production I am very excited to see what he can do in both writing and filming on a combined basis.

This work was produced in England and thus is a bit distanced from the influence of typical Hollywood BS.  We have a computer programmer who gets the opportunity to take part in a weekend long Turing test being set up by his multi-billionaire tech company founder/boss.  The subject of this Turing test is a very attractive (?), female (?), AI.  As is usual, it is up to sci-fi to bring us a look at the repercussions of our rapid advances and so it is the case here.  As a Mr. Elon Musk has said in the past week "With artificial intelligence we're summoning the demon. You know those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram, and the holy water, and ... he's sure he can control the demon? Doesn't work out."

This film should at the very least be a brief look into some of the existential and practical questions that arise when we play god in creating devices that can think for themselves and at some point, out think their creators.  There's a reason God create Man to be a fragile, fallible creature, may we be so wise.

e should be very careful about artificial intelligence... [it is perhaps] our biggest existential threat.  With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.

In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like yeah he's sure he can control the demon.  Didn't work out. - See more at: http://www.dailytech.com/Elon+Musk+on+AI+We+Are+Summoning+the+Demon+We+Should+Be+Very+Careful/article36788.htm#sthash.4X09brLj.dpuf

We should be very careful about artificial intelligence... [it is perhaps] our biggest existential threat.  With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.

In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like yeah he's sure he can control the demon.  Didn't work out. - See more at: http://www.dailytech.com/Elon+Musk+on+AI+We+Are+Summoning+the+Demon+We+Should+Be+Very+Careful/article36788.htm#sthash.4X09brLj.dpuf

We should be very careful about artificial intelligence... [it is perhaps] our biggest existential threat.  With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.

In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like yeah he's sure he can control the demon.  Didn't work out. - See more at: http://www.dailytech.com/Elon+Musk+on+AI+We+Are+Summoning+the+Demon+We+Should+Be+Very+Careful/article36788.htm#sthash.4X09brLj.dpuf

Taking Slot Cars To The AI World...

With AI here being Artificial Intelligence.  I doubt that the researchers over at MIT and in this case Carnegie Mellon are thinking too much about kids toys when they sit down for their work...but...as is nearly always the case...the most advanced tech ends up trickling down to our kids and our toys in a fashion more rapid that we tend to think.

So it is here, where a couple of really smart guys over at Carnegie Mellon have received millions of dollars in startup, venture capital funding to develop what amounts to a kid's game.  Anki is the name of the firm (anki.com) and you can go to their website to check out the company and its products or you can go here: http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/16/ankis-self-driving-toy-race-cars-will-launch-on-oct-23rd-we-go-hands-on/ to see the TechCrunch article and video on their first product.

Basically what we have is a modern, updated version of slot cars.  A pre-designed track is printed on vinyl and contained within that vinyl is code that only the associated Anki cars can see.  This code and the AI contained within the car keeps the car "on the track" as it were, preventing it from running "off the track" and chasing the cat down the hallway.  Think of it almost like an invisible dog fence for electronic toy cars.

Controlled by an iOS device (for now only iOS devices, sorry Android users) you can steer the car back and forth, accelerate, brake, etc. and also do other more video game like things such as firing infrared "bullets" at competitors, slow competitors down with infrared "tractor beams", etc.  As you move along and get better and more experience, more options and abilities of the car become available and become permanent, non-transferable additions to THAT car...so you can end up with cars with quite different capabilities.

Another point of note is that the basic kit comes with two cars.  One for you and one AI controlled car making it so that you don't need to have a buddy over to play.  The AI is evidently quite good and quite capable of beating you.

Future developments that are quite easy to forecast--things like new race track designs/layouts, different car "models" and software/AI upgrades--all available for purchase of course.  To me this looks like a cool little mashup of real world slotcar racing and AI infused gaming.  Is it a "driving" game??  Probly not.  Is it just a kids trinket?  Definitely not.  Is it cool?  Hell yes.