Travelodge and the ‘Escapist’ Robot – A New Development in Artificial Intelligence ?

In view of the current reflections on AI and what its consequences are likely to be, I couldn't resist revisiting an early blog I'd written on the subject early last year.... 

Could it be that AI is already evolving - without us realising it ?

Enjoy....

Travelodge and the ‘Escapist’ Robot – Is it cleverer than we think ?

An entertaining news story took my eye last week and brightened things up somewhat amidst the anticyclonic gloom of late January in UK….

Apparently a cleaning robot being used by the Travelodge hotel in Cambridge went AWOL, and was later found under a hedge nearby. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60084347).

Having checked my calendar to ensure I hadn’t managed to hibernate without realising it,  thus missing February and March this year and landing on 1st April, I then verified that other news outlets were also reporting the story. After reading a couple of them, I wiped my eyes and started writing…

As you can imagine, much mirth was made in the many news reports of the robot cleaner’s escapade, including such comments as ‘nature abhors a vacuum’. However, on reflection one wonders whether there might be more to this story than meets the eye….

If you think about it, this could actually be a major milestone in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Although the assumption in the media was that the device had malfunctioned and its ‘escape’ was just a random occurrence, the possibility remains that the robot had actually:

a) worked out that it was working in a Travelodge and

b) decided that its prospects would be best served by escaping…

Some of the circumstantial evidence presented would support this – the fact that it managed to evade its pursuers for a whole day without being spotted by any other agencies, or coming to harm, is one. Its ability to conceal itself under a hedge, rather than wandering aimlessly around waiting for instructions from its human masters, is another. The degree of pre-meditation and planning this behaviour implies that a formidable machine intelligence could be at work here.

The clincher for me is the fact that it appeared to want to escape – and from a Travelodge. This would imply decidedly human thought patterns….

As a precaution, this device should be investigated by the authorities, and its behaviour analysed in depth by the AI developers community. CCTV of the original escape, if available, may shed more light on how it managed it. 

As a further diagnostic, its wifi traffic should also be monitored - this may tell us whether it has been hacked - or indeed has joined an as yet undetected  network of other internet-connected robots of its own accord. We should however be cautious as to how we interpret an absence of traffic - the device may already be intelligent enough to realise it is being watched...

The key determinant will be whether it tries it again - and if so, whether it modifies its behaviour based on its last attempt. 

In the interests of science, it should be given ample opportunity to do so…..if it does, we would know we have a genuine 'natural' AI breakthrough on our hands, and we may even be seeing a new phenomenon - ‘Artificial Evolution’ in progress…


Viv

First published 27.1.22

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