Ants

Artificial Intelligence: Ants

In the chapter Technology, Thought, and Consciousness, the author poses the question: //how artificial is intelligence?// The notion of artificial intelligence (AI) has been researched, tested, and reinforced consistently for a number of years. The text notes a great pioneer of robotics, Hans Moravec, and his addition to the world of technology via AI. His research has posed the notion that that AI is simply robots that have been given sensed intelligence and motors to operate the world. When thinking about the aspects in which AI is seen. We have to consider computers and any other source that has been given the capacity to carry a conversation enough to fool a person into thinking they were communicating with another person.

Let’s look a study referenced in the text! This study, termed the //Chinese Room,// depicted an English speaking person that was given instructions in English that would essentially allow them to translate Chinese. In essence, if this person could communicate in Chinese given basic directions in English, they were considered Chinese speaking. That idea is consistent with the initial idea of AI. The controversy stems however from comparing a brain to a computer. Researchers state that regardless of what information a technological device is given, it does not compare to the human brain. The brain and the computer cannot be comparable mainly because devices need this information uploaded whereas the brain is a functional organ that continues to build on itself. Essentially, there is the implication that consciousness will be attained by machines when given the right connections between low-level components and the right environment in which to learn.

In saying that, I researched AI and its research produced by using ants. In the artificial, __Artificial pheromone for path selection by a foraging swarm of robots__, researchers lay artificial pheromone inside a network of robots in the likeness of ants and implement a virtual path. They were testing to see if the pheromone will allow the ants to decide on which path to take. There is a notion that experiments using ants would most likely be successful being that robots use very simple messages and behaviors which are well suited for microbots with minimal abilities. After much testing, there was some success however many errors were presented. Overall, the performance of the robots degraded gracefully as the amount of communication increased subsequently producing more errors.



In more testing of AI using ants, the article, __Riders on a swarm__, introduces microbots mimicking the behavior of ants, bees, and birds which was initiated by a poor man in his attempt to replicate artificial intelligence. This idea stems from the notion introduced in science fiction movies that ants will somehow develop intelligence and take over the world. This article notes the natural habitation of pheromones used as an application of their immediate survival due to the fact that it can only be traced for a limited amount of time. The article continues to discuss how ants ways in which ants and other insects are used in logistics, algorithms, and digital projects nationwide.

Overall, the idea of artificial intelligence as noted in the chapter reading is artificial intelligence is intelligent speaking in parameters that they are provide with via software. It will never have the capacity to assimilate information such as a brain. Artificial intelligence will continue to be an ongoing study that researchers will continue to build on. Below you will find information about the interactive game, AI Challenge, which is orchestrated as an international artificial intelligence programming contest that uses ants. It was started by the [|University of Waterloo Computer Science Club]. Check it out! [] The AI Challenge is all about creating artificial intelligence, whether you are a beginning programmer or an expert. Using one of the easy-to-use starter kits, you will create a computer program (in any language) that controls a colony of ants which fight against other colonies for domination. It only takes 5 minutes to submit one of the starter kits to the website and watch your ant colony fight for domination against colonies created by other people from around the world. From there check out the tutorials on how to locally run your bot and begin programming!