Researchers Push for Computers That Think

Aug. 5 -- Remember Stanley Kubrick's epic 2001: A Space Odyssey? More specifically, remember the malevolent supercomputer HAL 9000?

It may still be decades before computers become "self-aware" and smart enough to do something evil on their own, like turn against humans. But the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is hoping that renewed research and funding could within the next few years lead to machines that act more like human assistants.

For years, DARPA has funded research into so-called artificial intelligence systems — computers that approach tasks using advanced software and schemes that mimic how humans solve problems. But under a new, five-year project called Perceptive Assistant that Learns, or PAL, researchers are hoping to take "cognitive systems" to a new level.

The goal of the project is to develop a computer system that would help decision-makers — business managers and battlefield commanders, for instance — automatically manage the flood of daily mundane chores and allow them to concentrate on more important tasks.

Just like human administrative assistants, these developing "cognitive systems" would answer e-mail, arrange meetings, and write reports. But in handling these routine tasks, the computer would remain alert for information and events that are vital to its human manager's chores.

An Astute RADAR

One team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh is tackling the PAL program challenge with a project called Reflective Agents with Distributed Adaptive Reasoning — RADAR. The project, funded for the initial year with $7 million from DARPA, brings together several "expert systems" that have been developed over the years for very specific purposes.

For example, voice recognition systems used in automated call centers to give information about credit cards or bank accounts use specially developed software that helps a computer understand a very limited number of spoken commands and phrases.