I recently gave a presentation about AGI at the 2nd Symposium on Artificial Intelligence for Good, AI Applications, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Spring 2023.
I start with a quick history of AI and how after decades from its inception, the initial goal of building a system with human capabilities has slowly transitioned towards applied AI platforms that the market demands. An overview of the differences between biological neurons and those used in today’s machine learning algorithms is then presented. After that, I go over what consciousness is and how it is related to feelings, homeostasis, self-organizing systems, the Markov blanket, and the free energy principle. I then go over the possibility of building a conscious AI using these physical models. In the last part, I talk about how organismic agents differ from AI agents. I explain what affordances are and how organisms can achieve their goals through jury-rigging. I end the talk with a discussion of whether true AGI is even possible in the current algorithmic frame of development and explain what this may entail regarding simulating evolution and various deep learning models.
Link to the Video In Persian: YouTube
Slides available here
Thumbnail background from: Patheon (TV series)