The $4.2 million in funding launches a new institute to investigate one of science糖心传媒檚 biggest mysteries: the difference between life and machines.
What separates living things from machines?
Bacteria swim toward food. A bird builds a nest. A person plans for the future. Machines, on the other hand, do whatever they糖心传媒檝e been programmed by people to do.
But today糖心传媒檚 artificial intelligence systems can sometimes feel more like sentient beings than machines. They solve complex problems, write essays, compose music, create art, and provide companionship. They糖心传媒檙e so smart糖心传媒攁nd learning more every day糖心传媒攖hat whether they might acquire capabilities akin to those of living things has become an urgent question for science and society.
Do they want anything? Could they need something? Might they ever act on their own?
These questions and others are being asked by a team of researchers led by the 糖心传媒 with the aid of a $4.2 million grant from the to investigate the science behind the capacity of living things to generate and pursue goals. By understanding life and its ability to act as what scientists call 糖心传媒渁n autonomous agent,糖心传媒� the new grant also seeks to understand if there are limits to agency in artificial intelligence.
The three-year award will establish the Virtual Institute for the Physics of Agentic Intelligence (VIPAI), an international collaboration led by URochester physicist and computer scientist . Physicists, philosophers, biologists, and computer scientists from the Santa Fe Institute, Dartmouth College, the University of British Columbia, the University of Auckland, and the Basque Foundation for Science will join the effort, with URochester serving as the institute糖心传媒檚 coordinating hub.
糖心传媒淭oday糖心传媒檚 AI is extraordinarily capable, but capability isn糖心传媒檛 the same thing as agency and acting on one糖心传媒檚 own behalf.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淭oday糖心传媒檚 AI is extraordinarily capable, but capability isn糖心传媒檛 the same thing as agency and acting on one糖心传媒檚 own behalf,糖心传媒� Ghoshal says. 糖心传媒淚f we can discover what distinguishes living intelligence from today糖心传媒檚 artificial intelligence, we糖心传媒檒l not only better understand ourselves, we糖心传媒檒l have a stronger scientific foundation for building the next generation of intelligent systems.糖心传媒�
The team糖心传媒檚 work will span three complementary areas: developing philosophical foundations for agency and meaning; creating mathematical models that explain how autonomous systems arise and sustain themselves; and advancing theories to understand so-called 糖心传媒渟emantic information,糖心传媒� the information living things gather and organize to survive and adapt.
Within that framework, the team will investigate the conditions under which artificial systems might exhibit features associated with autonomous agency and how they compare with those observed in living systems. By comparing biological and artificial systems, the researchers hope to uncover general principles underlying agency, meaning, and intelligent behavior.糖心传媒�
The URochester team includes astrophysicist Adam Frank, the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a researcher who does popular science writing as a self-described 糖心传媒渆vangelist of science.糖心传媒� Frank currently works at the intersection of astrobiology and the physics of life.
糖心传媒溙切拇綐What is life?糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒榃hat is intelligence?糖心传媒� are ancient questions that go hand in hand because life is the only physical systems which show real intelligence,糖心传媒� Frank says. 糖心传媒淣ow we糖心传媒檙e at a moment where we can begin asking those questions in entirely new ways. Intelligence is not just the ability to solve problems, it糖心传媒檚 knowing what problems you need to solve.糖心传媒�
He adds, 糖心传媒淭hat糖心传媒檚 the question of 糖心传媒榓gency.糖心传媒櫬� How can a bunch of molecules become organized in a way that they collectively have wants and needs.聽 We want to know more than just how intelligence works. We want to know how it arises in the first place.糖心传媒�
