In an interview with a robotics designer behind the Desdemona and Sophia robots, Ben Goertzel, the CEO of SingularityNET, speaks about the company’s aim to make sure all AI is not owned by a few corporations and governments. SingularityNET is working with Hanson Robotics and the two companies have produced the humanoid robots, Sophia and Desdemona. SingularityNET is now in the process of moving from the Ethereum blockchain to the Cardano blockchain, and with the launch of Cardano’s Hydra, it plans to launch a custom Cardano sidechain for AI called HyperCycle, which will decrease costs and increase scalability.
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Creating a “Do not kill” List
Desdemona robot, the younger sister of Sophia robot, was created by Hanson Robotics, through the hardware and software approach. Ben Goertzel from Singularity, and the software team working behind these robots joined hands to make a change in creating benevolent thinking machines that will help uplift people and solve their problems. Ben Goertzel talked about how they are working to create a safe AI network, where all the AI happening on the planet is not owned by a few big corporations or governments in order to build a future that aligns with human values. The team put a lot of effort to develop a decentralized AI network SingularityNET launched in 2017 on Ethereum. By creating a HyperCycle sidechain, which is a ledger-less blockchain, customized for AI and Cardano compatible, they hope to make blockchain the leading technology in powering future innovations.
Getting Into AI
Ben Goertzel’s interest in AI sparked as he watched the original Star Trek on TV, particularly the episode that featured a robot. This robot failed to handle logical paradoxes presented to it by Kirk and Spock. Ben thought that robots and AI could do better than humans at solving their problems so why not invest more time and resources in creating smarter machines?
The Quest for General Intelligence
Ben talks about the importance of creating “benevolent thinking machines” to help uplift people, solve other problems and ultimately create positive progress. While this may be considered a small fraction of AI’s overall quest, it is an essential pursuit in creating an ecosystem that aligns with human values. Moving forward, the team assured that they will shape the minds of general intelligences towards being beneficial to humans, but there are no guarantees that this would be the future outcome. In the end, it’s about getting the balance right to ensure everything works out well.
Working on Cardano
Ben sees Cardano as a big step towards increasing scalability, decreasing costs, and improving security in powering an ecosystem that aligns with these values. Porting SingularityNET, a decentralized AI network, to Cardano will help them take this major step. It’s currently under development and is expected to launch soon. Additionally, the team is working on a custom Cardano sidechain called HyperCycle specifically for AI. They hope to have HyperCycle built to be another major step in decreasing costs and increasing scalability while ensuring blockchain takes over the world economy.
