Leading computer scientistshave unveiled a vision of collective AI that resemblesStar Trekspecies the Borg.
The paper describesseparateAIunits continuously acquiring new knowledge and skills.
They would then share the information across a online grid.
Together, the collective would turn their insights into mutual benefits.
Multiple skills, ideas, and applications would then evolve incrementally.
As a result, the internet would rapidly learn to complete new tasks and respond to changes.
Transformative technologies would then emerge.
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Cybersecurity systems, for instance, would draw on combined detection capacities to foil hackers.
Disaster response androids would adapt the collectives breadth of experience to any conditions.
Healthcarerobotswould quickly adapt to different tasks andpatientneeds.
Without knowledge sharing, learning may take too long.
If you think that sounds like sci-fi, youre not alone.
But the team grounds their vision in tech that already exists.
Collective AI is already here
The researchers expect edge devices to host decentralisedcomputationand data for the collective.
Federated and transfer learning would share the knowledge, while a common programming language would communicate the insights.
This way we can create dynamic collectives of units that can join or leave at any time.
Currenttechstrategies further validate the teams ideas.Global efforts to enable learning through an AI agents lifespan are gaining momentum.
The likes of ChatGPT learn primarily during initial training sessions, which restricts their capacity for continuous learning.
Big tech is also often reluctant to share ideas.
This inhibits AI progress and concentrates power in the hands of a dominant few.
Soltoggio believescollective AI units will vanquish this model.
He points to the collaborative dynamics of human society.
Our artificial descendants could follow the same pathway.
By effectively recycling knowledge, they could also dramatically reduce energy demands.
Some tech firms will still refuse to share.
Nonetheless, they could still develop internal AI collectives.
Meanwhile, those who collaborate can integrate external contributions, as the open-source community has done.
A democractic Borg
Funding for the research comes from US military research agency DARPA.
That may set off some alarm bells, but the study team promises to install powerful guardrails.
These safeguards will hopefully ease memories of the Borg.
To avoid this gruesome fate, the study team wants eachAI unit to maintain its own objectives and independence.
This latter way is more reminiscent of healthy democratic societies.
I hope the scientific community will focus on reproducing those principles rather than creating armies of order-following AI systems.
Its a sentiment thatStar TreksSpock would surely share.
One of the themes of this years TNW Conference is Ren-AI-ssance: The AI-Powered Rebirth.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
