:00:00. > :00:32.but now on BBC News it's time for Click.
:00:33. > :00:35.For decades, scientists all around the world have been trying to create
:00:36. > :00:37.a machine that can match our intelligence.
:00:38. > :00:39.And nowadays artificially intelligent algorithms can perform
:00:40. > :00:45.For a long time scientists have been the use in games like chess,
:00:46. > :00:48.drafts and go as a benchmark for testing AI.
:00:49. > :00:51.And that's because all these games have a certain amount
:00:52. > :00:59.But this week the AI community has been celebrating a big win
:01:00. > :01:04.after a poker playing algorithm called Liberatus defeated four top
:01:05. > :01:09.human players in a 20 day match of heads up no limit Texas
:01:10. > :01:14.I've been using poker as a benchmark for 12 years.
:01:15. > :01:17.Now the best AI has surpassed the level of the best humans
:01:18. > :01:22.in the strategic reasoning under imperfect information.
:01:23. > :01:25.But even at this big win is only a little step towards creating
:01:26. > :01:38.Intelligence one capable of sophisticated thought
:01:39. > :01:41.across a wide spectrum of areas, and solving problems just
:01:42. > :01:45.It's an incredible time. And it's very hard to forecast.
:01:46. > :01:50.and has really incredible possibilities.
:01:51. > :01:57.But it's, I think it's impossible to forecast accurately.
:01:58. > :01:59.Speech has been another big challenge for AI researchers.
:02:00. > :02:02.Personal assistants and chat bots are becoming more sophisticated,
:02:03. > :02:07.but they so far can't fool us into thinking that they're human.
:02:08. > :02:11.But what if you thought you were talking to another person?
:02:12. > :02:13.Konichiwa. Do you speak English?
:02:14. > :02:19.Would that make you more likely to trust it?
:02:20. > :02:25.Well, two researchers at the London School of economics
:02:26. > :02:28.came up with an experiment to see if we would communicate better
:02:29. > :02:33.with AI if its messages were delivered to us by a human.
:02:34. > :02:38.They call this computer human hybrid the Echoborg.
:02:39. > :02:40.And to explore the concept, Jane Copestick found herself
:02:41. > :02:50.The Echoborg was inspired by research from Stanley Milgram.
:02:51. > :02:53.He is the Professor behind the controversial experiments
:02:54. > :02:56.on obedience in the 1960s, to see if people would deliver
:02:57. > :02:59.electric shocks to others if instructed to buy
:03:00. > :03:04.Milgram also studied body perception, to determine if we hold
:03:05. > :03:08.preformed opinions of other people based on their looks.
:03:09. > :03:10.By using hidden earpieces, people could speak someone else's
:03:11. > :03:17.The Echoborg has updated this research for the 21st century,
:03:18. > :03:20.to see if people will react better to artificial intelligence.
:03:21. > :03:23.Such as the messages from an online chat bot.
:03:24. > :03:26.If they are being delivered by a human.
:03:27. > :03:29.I'm in the first stages of testing this out by becoming
:03:30. > :03:33.I'm starting my speech shadowing practice.
:03:34. > :03:35.The first step in becoming a fully fledged Echoborg.
:03:36. > :03:38.The professors have told me this process will take at least eight
:03:39. > :03:43.I'm starting my first practice with JK Rowling's Harvard
:03:44. > :03:49.Members of the Harvard Corporation and the board of overseers...
:03:50. > :03:52.By shadowing speech, I should be able to quickly repeat
:03:53. > :03:55.back the messages from a chat bot so people won't realise
:03:56. > :04:02.It may seem something paradox, but there's horses in the cow...
:04:03. > :04:05.I did something and scuttled somewhere.
:04:06. > :04:08.Now, to put it to the test, I'm meeting creator
:04:09. > :04:11.Professor Alex Gillespie at the London School of Economics.
:04:12. > :04:21.And Kevin Corti, who called in on Skype.
:04:22. > :04:25.That goes around your neck. First step.
:04:26. > :04:28.Kevin is using a chat bot called Rose, which is not preprogrammed.
:04:29. > :04:30.The most noticeable problem in becoming a convincing AI
:04:31. > :04:33.are the delays while Rose thinks of a response to the question.
:04:34. > :04:39.Where do you come from? I was born in San Francisco.
:04:40. > :04:41.Really? In United States.
:04:42. > :04:46.When were you born? Couple of years ago.
:04:47. > :04:57.Are you a chat bot? I'm a human.
:04:58. > :05:00.I thought for a moment you might be a chat bot.
:05:01. > :05:02.Republic of Ireland and Croatia and France.
:05:03. > :05:05.My brother's from Ireland. Really?
:05:06. > :05:08.A magical place full of rain and crazy people.
:05:09. > :05:12.She says. Well...
:05:13. > :05:14.That was... Interesting.
:05:15. > :05:22.What you notices, they tend to be quite disconnected.
:05:23. > :05:24.It takes each sentence as a stand-alone sentence.
:05:25. > :05:27.Some of them will speak like they are artificial
:05:28. > :05:30.intelligence, and some of them will pretend not to be.
:05:31. > :05:34.But although last time I spoke to which it said
:05:35. > :05:40.Our final test for the Echoborg was to bring it on stage in front
:05:41. > :05:43.of an audience of 700 people at the BBC Future
:05:44. > :05:47.What a lot of humans find difficult...
:05:48. > :05:54.Canberra. OK, good.
:05:55. > :06:21.How do I know you are human, how do you know I'm human?
:06:22. > :06:33.In fact, some of the audience members were fooled.
:06:34. > :06:36.One thought it was a real conversation with a human,
:06:37. > :06:43.Some people thought you didn't want to talk
:06:44. > :06:50.That you were trying to avoid the question,
:06:51. > :06:53.they really thought you were trying to avoid the questions.
:06:54. > :06:56.Someone even said, had it been a man would it have
:06:57. > :07:00.Without becoming fully fledged Echoborgs, we are already giving
:07:01. > :07:05.a voice to artificial intelligence everyday.
:07:06. > :07:06.Through the algorithms guiding our news consumption,
:07:07. > :07:09.to our shopping habits and online searches.
:07:10. > :07:11.We're bringing AI to life more and more.
:07:12. > :07:14.Projects like the Echoborg let us reflect on what this means
:07:15. > :07:18.for our AI future and perhaps even what it means to be human.
:07:19. > :07:35.Hello and welcome to The Week in Tech.
:07:36. > :07:38.Playtime was never like this in my day.
:07:39. > :07:42.I've been taking a look at some of the latest toys hoping to light
:07:43. > :07:47.up the faces of children and grown-ups.
:07:48. > :07:53.And, inevitably, a few of them could be found at London's toy fair.
:07:54. > :07:57.This looks like a drone in a cage and that's because it is.
:07:58. > :08:07.It's also a proof of concept for a toy that's going to be
:08:08. > :08:12.Its inventor here is wearing this glove, which means you can control
:08:13. > :08:18.It all looks pretty simple, but I know you've been studying
:08:19. > :08:21.robotics for 15 years, so there's quite a bit more to this
:08:22. > :08:29.Once the science of gestures has been codified, and that's what we've
:08:30. > :08:33.been able to do, as you can imagine, we can bring all sorts of robotic
:08:34. > :08:40.The brain itself is in the glove, in the secretary and electronics.
:08:41. > :08:44.And the algorithms embedded in the glove.
:08:45. > :08:47.The drone is merely a conduit for the gestures being recorded
:08:48. > :08:53.There was also a clear trend towards giving kids a deeper level
:08:54. > :08:58.of control when it comes to toy gadgets.
:08:59. > :09:01.This is a robot that aims to help kids learn to code.
:09:02. > :09:04.They can operate it manually through the App, or setup sequences
:09:05. > :09:07.of the functions they'd like it to carry out.
:09:08. > :09:10.It's looks pretty raw when you've got all these leads and buttons,
:09:11. > :09:13.so it really is giving kids a chance to develop something.
:09:14. > :09:17.I also recently got my hand on a drone that kids can programme,
:09:18. > :09:20.spending time tweaking code at a computer or using drag
:09:21. > :09:28.I had a play around with some of the drone's functions.
:09:29. > :09:31.So maybe that shows who the real kid is.
:09:32. > :09:34.First of all I press W, which should get the drone
:09:35. > :09:39.This is a spot of that well-known activity, drone bowling.
:09:40. > :09:57.Is, the skittles are down here on the floor.
:09:58. > :10:04.It's not just about flying, though, you may want to do a bit of driving.
:10:05. > :10:17.To do that, you swap the wings for wheels.
:10:18. > :10:20.Last year we learned quite how much of an appetite
:10:21. > :10:23.there was for augmented reality in gaming.
:10:24. > :10:33.And give the big kids a chance for some play, too.
:10:34. > :10:49.This gaming robot, much like virtual avatars,
:10:50. > :10:55.It's also customisable and upgradable, with the ability
:10:56. > :11:06.to add wheels or even take on another robot in the room.
:11:07. > :11:09.Or if you want to get yourself moving, how
:11:10. > :11:22.This prototype has limited functionality, but still managed
:11:23. > :11:42.Not that it fought too hard when I decided I'd had enough.
:11:43. > :11:56.The full length of version is ready for you on iPlayer. Thank you for
:11:57. > :11:59.watching and see you soon..