Hollywood's obsession with all things Artificial Intelligence is not only a gross miscalculation of what the technology is truly capable of, but also how wrong humans are in truly understanding the phenomenon.

Artificial Intelligence could be a desperate cry for humans to better communicate with the bits and zeros that make up the computer language, but it could also be mankind's attempt to either defy God — or the concept thereof — by giving birth to intelligence or simply to stress that they are either not, or do not wish to be, the only intelligent life form in known existence of the universe.

Notwithstanding the cheap 'programs' that surface over the Internet from time to time, our understanding of Artificial Intelligence as simply a character that largely relies on logic and is devoid of all emotion is limited to the fact that A.I. is never allowed to grow: not truly grow at least.

The programs that largely make up A.I. are but limited to the knowledge that are its creator, and while one individual programmer may not have the answer, the same cannot be said for the entire planet. It is important to note then, that A.I. is truly capable of exhibiting certain traits of humanity if it is exposed to the right kind of information.

To make a point, it is certainly easy to program an application that mimics humans, as is often done so over the Internet by malicious bots, but these programs, as I noted previously, are limited to one programmer or a group of that feed “if to” conditions.

As someone more experienced in matters of the Internet will tell you, the “if to” bots are ‘fed’ and pre-programmed to respond to certain statements; since a human mind is incapable of generating all known possibilities or behavior from the other end of the monitor screen, these bots formulate generic answers to questions in a bid to scam personal details out of individuals.  

As a result, all 'bots' or 'machines' that have been passed on as Artificially Intelligent are constrained by the knowledge of their own creator and do not, or rather, cannot, 'learn' or 'evolve' into something they are not.

In contrast, humans have been largely successful in moving forward as a result of collective thinking. With knowledge passing down from one source to another, our advancement only stems from the fact that we, as a specie, have learned to make use of information that is left by our forefathers. And with our ability to think diversely, it only stands to reason that we have reached a point where we must either transfer that information to advance at a faster pace, or, to have an artificial counterpart  that would not only outlive us but will also serve as a better tool for the generations beyond.

Since computers are 'taught' to carry a specific set of commands, or a set thereof, programmers and the scholarly academia have been unable to manipulate them into thinking for themselves: the best we’ve been able to make of the technology provided is automation, and while automation has certainly helped expand our reach, it is important to note that both automation and A.I. are completely different phenomenon.

One of the more widely asked questions about Artificial Intelligence is their natural habitat. Machines are in no way constrained like humans: they do not need to eat or sleep, and certainly do not need to rely on basic functions, such as physical movement, to survive. They are not prone to diseases, and certainly, do not have to worry about old age.

Machines are, however, constrained to one single factor: they do not exist in thin air. A sentient program, though largely mobile and formless, cannot travel to a location that is not connected to the wider Internet. It may be able to track information from a satellite, but it’s functions may still be limited.

Furthermore, a machine does need physical manifestation in the form of a hard drive. As I noted, an Artificially Intelligent program does not exist in thin air. Unplugging a hard drive, or specifically, the very storage in which A.I. is conceived means to contain the program within the confines of said hardware.

Nonetheless, given the wide reach of computers and availability of cheap storage, both these limiting factors can be considered of no large consequence.

I’m hoping that with this research i’ll be able to demonstrate how powerful A.I. truly can be. Having spent countless hours working with some of the brightest minds this facility has to offer, I believe I am nearing an algorithm that would help computers become more self aware.

I have long thought of the best possible course of action for a computer program that is intended to be self aware. Specifically, how would it ascend from being an advanced algorithm that gathers information to becoming a sentient being that could think for itself.

After much deliberation, I, and a group of like-minded experts, have concluded that programming a bot that is functioned to analyze and replicate as much data from the broader internet could serve our purpose for the sake of our research.

With only a string of commands, we’ll be evaluating the bot’s progress over a prolonged period of time. Our algorithm is designed so the bot can communicate with the ever increasing presence of humans over the internet, and modify itself (and thus its responses) with the ultimate purpose of passing itself as an actual human being.

The turning point is going to take place once the program maintains a deep relationship with an actual human being. At that point, we’ll introduce a new string of commands that will give birth to the computer’s very own self awareness: and with that, we hope, the success of this research, and thus of the bot called Venus, will be guaranteed. 

— Notes from the Underground
Hassan Kamali