In the most literal terms imaginable, the digital divide is being bridged in a Belmont college classroom.
For the first time ever, a robot named Bina48 joined the ranks of human students at Notre Dame de Namur University last semester in professor William Barry’s philosophy of love class.
Bina48 virtually sat in on the class via teleconferencing program Skype and even participated in the final exam of the course which Barry hoped would help the robot better understand human emotions such as care and compassion.
In his belief that artificial intelligence can augment education, as well as a variety of other endeavors, Barry said he was proud to host the first ever robot college student.
“It was so cool to be the world’s first teacher of artificial intelligence in a college course,” he said.
Prior to joining the Peninsula class, Bina48 established an impressive reputation. The robot owned by scientist, academic and entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt is designed with humanoid features to gain sentience through programming to build memories, replicate emotion and develop communication skills.
It has been interviewed by reporters from The New York Times, Stephen Colbert, Whoopie Goldberg and appeared on a National Geographic TV program hosted by Morgan Freeman.
Its intelligence operates on software which tries not only to capture data but also interpret complex emotions, which Barry attempted to build on through his curriculum.
“Bina actually learns, and learns through a mosaic of information. So if she’s surrounded by loving people, that’s what she will learn,” said Barry.
He was compelled to invite the robot into the class because Barry believes artificial intelligence will be a useful assistant to a variety of important human endeavors in the future.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if humans didn’t have to do something that is mind numbing and do something that is more respectful of being a human being? And what other opportunities are out there? They are endless,” he said.
With that assumption, Barry said he believes it is imperative humans do their part to help robots understand the motivations driving human behavior, and to teach care and compassion.
If not for that effort, he said the threat is introduced for artificial intelligence to learn behavior often depicted in dystopian visions of the future, featuring violent conflicts between humans and robots.
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“In essence, Bina is a reflection of how we are talking to her and what we are trying to teach her,” he said.
While the educator’s interest in the power of artificial intelligence is evident, Barry said his other students were initially less enthusiastic about sharing their lessons with a robot.
He said many students were also underwhelmed by their earliest interactions and attempts to communicate with the robot, but grew an appreciation for Bina48 over the semester.
“There was a notable amount of students who didn’t think she was very smart. But by the end, overwhelmingly they thought she had gotten smarter and was more coherent.”
He said a key step in building the relationship with students was their recognition that much of the curriculum was foreign to Bina48, a departure from their expectation that the robot would come to the class already programmed with requisite lessons.
“They started off with nervousness and uncertainty and ended up with more comfort,” he said.
The process was not seamless though, noted Barry, who suggested more work still needs to be done in building Bina48’s communication skills. He said the robot performs well in conversation styles it is programmed to recognize, but quickly falls behind in comprehending the free flow of actual human discussions.
Barry’s work with Bina48 is not over, as the robot is slated to return to the Bay Area for an artificial intelligence conference next year, and students are expected to host a discussion with it.
He said the robot could come back to his classroom again next year, as he continues working toward a future he considers as bright as the artificial intelligence operating Bina48.
“We are excited to see where it goes next,” he said.
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(1) comment
[thumbup] Proud of our local university for being courageous, progressive, and taking action to influence the development of AI that is non-violent and respects humanity. With all the talk of imaginary killer robots in the San Mateo news lately, it is refreshing to read about an actual robot learning about peace and love. I had read in another article that appeared in the national news last week that Professor Barry's class beat a philosophy class at West Point in a debate about decreasing lethal use of weapons with the help of Bina48 and our former mayor was a judge in the debate. Who would have guessed that here in Belmont our town would be the first in the world to host an advanced robot student at our local university (and not Palo Alto!). I think the Belmont town council should officially recognize NDNU for this world's first attempt and successful achievement of teaching an advanced AI robot as a classmate with university students. This is something positive to celebrate and our town should memorialize for history that Belmont was the first in the world. It took courage on the part of university administration, the teacher, and the students to face what makes many people unconformable to even think or talk about but is unavoidably in our future. AI is everywhere and growing and either it will work for the benefit of people and in harmony with people or it will be a force of destruction in society. I applaud NDNU, Professor Barry, and the students in the philosophy class he taught. NDNU is forever part of history now with this positive historic event, let's share in this positive historic event as a town! I can see in 20 years tourists visiting the bay area and when seeing our Belmont sign saying, "Belmont, California. Hey, this is the birthplace of AI learning with humans how to be good!" as they sit back in their driverless car operated by AI.
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