Polyworld: Using Evolution to Design Artificial Intelligence

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Google Tech Talks
November, 8 2007

ABSTRACT

This presentation is about a potential shortcut to artificial intelligence by trading mind-design for world-design using artificial evolution. Evolutionary algorithms are a pump for turning CPU cycles into brain designs. With exponentially increasing CPU cycles while our understanding of intelligence is almost a flat-line, the evolutionary route to AI is a centerpiece of most Kurzweilian singularity scenarios. This talk introduces the Polyworld artificial life simulator as well as results from our ongoing attempt to evolve artificial intelligence and further the Singularity.

Polyworld is the brain child of Apple Computer Distinguished Scientist Larry Yaeger, who remains the primary developer of Polyworld:



Speaker: Virgil Griffith
Virgil Griffith is a first year graduate student in Computation and Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology. On weekdays he studies evolution, computational neuroscience, and artificial life. He did computer security work until his first year of university when his work got him sued for sedition and espionage. He then decided that security was probably not safest field to be in and he turned his life to science.

Channel: People & Blogs
Uploaded: November 13, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Author: googletechtalks

Length: 01:06:38
Rating: 4.79
Views: 34550

Tags: google techtalks techtalk engedu talk talks googletechtalks education

Video Comments:
Olucatei (October 9, 2008 at 6:25 am)
Maybe if they added an output neuron that gave signal to an additional input neuron, the organisms could have a short pseudo-memory. I know nothing of these systems, just a thought.
amayami (October 8, 2008 at 11:34 pm)
Wouldn't kill him to rehearse his debate before showing up...too many uh's and uhm's.
batymun (October 6, 2008 at 2:18 am)
dicks and cocks
Luftwaffe101 (October 2, 2008 at 3:37 am)
sp sp sp sp sp spit it out!
rmessenger (September 29, 2008 at 9:16 pm)
"Natural selection" is used as an analogue. It's not really natural, but it is selection. You can't have any kind of selection (or evolution) without a cost or fitness function. In nature there are sets of probabilities that act as the "fitness function" although not explicitly stated as a "function"
Colombian459 (September 28, 2008 at 6:24 am)
What? lol then we will never achieve human level intelligence!
EmotionIsIgnorance (September 23, 2008 at 11:53 pm)
in spore they dont evolve they made it look like you do but in fact this is far more closer to evolution.
cyborgtroy (October 6, 2008 at 6:31 am)
Yeah Spore is rly annoying bc it's a game, not anything about evolution.

If Spore were evolution you wouldn't even be playing :P
DbzmasterdbzNecross (September 16, 2008 at 6:39 am)
inthefade-
Err...there are already AI that should be able to do that. In certain games they can temporarily remember moves you do and use them, I'm pretty sure, and if not, it's entirely possible and just hasn't been done yet.
inthefade (September 16, 2008 at 10:44 am)
You're talking about something different.
I'm not talking about AI *learning* what you do, and then trying to counter it, I'm talking about AI that uses a randomly mutating genetic algorithm for behavior and then a fitness function to naturally select more successful behavior. This is a significantly different model for AI, and you are right, it is entirely possible, and maybe someone has tried it already.