Sensory AGI Credit: unite.ai
Introduction
In the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) two domains are leading the way: Sensory AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Sensory AI aims to equip intelligent machines with the ability to interpret and process data similar to human’s sensory experiences, thereby enabling machines to have an almost human-like perception of the world. The goal of AGI to mimic the human brain’s functionality and cognitive abilities, is increasingly focused on multisensory integration. By integrating sensory experiences like touch, smell and taste, AGI can achieve a more holistic understanding of the world, achieving human-like intelligence.
Defining Human Senses
There are five basic human senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The sensing organs associated with each sense send information to the brain to help us understand and perceive the world around us. However, there are other human senses in addition to the basic five. These lesser-known senses include spatial awareness and balance. According to Wikipedia a sense is a biological system used by an organism to generate sensation as stimuli to gather information about our surroundings. In addition to the five human senses many more are now recognized to exist and typically classified as external or internal. Human external senses are based on the sensory organs of the eyes, ears, skin, nose, mouth while internal senses include spatial orientation, body position and pain. Internal senses may also signal hunger, thirst, suffocation and nausea. So-called ‘multimodality’ integrates different senses into one unified perceptual experience. For example, information from one sense has the potential to influence how information from another is perceived. The sensory organs of humans such as eyes, ears, skin, nose and mouth are replicated by AI, for example as visual systems (sense of vision), auditory systems (sense of hearing), somatosensory systems (sense of touch), olfactory systems (sense of smell) and gustatory system (sense of taste).
The Functionality of Human Senses
The following provides a brief summary of the functionality of human senses, engaging specialized neurons that help to define brain functionality and human behaviour. Touch consists of several distinct sensations communicated to the brain through specialized neurons, or nerve cells in the skin. Pressure, temperature, vibration, pain and other sensations are all part of the touch sense. Touch is essential for our survival, allowing us to explore and interact with our environment. Sight, or perceiving things through the eyes, is a complex process. The transparent outer layer of the eye known as the cornea bends the light, some of which then passes through a hole in the eye called the pupil, to the lens. The iris, or coloured part of the eye, controls how much light enters the organ by adjusting the size of the pupil. Hearing works via the complex structure of the human ear. Sound is funnelled from the outside, along a passageway in the outer ear called the external auditory canal or ear canal. Then, sound waves reach the tympanic membrane, or eardrum. This is a thin sheet of connective tissue that vibrates when sound waves strike it. The perception of smell begins in the olfactory cleft of the nasal cavity. Nerve endings within this cleft detect odors and transmit signals about them to the brain where they are interpreted as smells. Old age can also lessen the ability to smell properly and more than 50% of people aged between 65 and 80 have a reduced sense of smell. Sense of taste is usually broken down into the perception of five different tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter and savory. Having a sense of taste helped humans to test the food they ate. A bitter taste, for instance, indicated that a plant might be poisonous. Something sweet, on the other hand, often meant the food was rich in nutrients. Sense of space provides an addition to the traditional big five senses. Proprioception, for example, deals with how your brain understands where your body is in space. It includes the sense of movement and position of our limbs and muscles. For example, proprioception enables a person to touch their finger to the tip of their nose, even with their eyes closed.
AI’s Sensing Inventory
Sensory AI aims to equip machines with the ability to interpret and process data similar to human sensory experiences. This field is not limited to just visual or auditory inputs but extends to more complex senses like touch, smell, and taste. Currently computer vision represents the most widely used sensory input for AI applications. This involves training machines to understand and make sense of the visual world. By analysing images and videos, AI can identify objects, interpret scenes and even reconstruct environments. This technology is pivotal in areas like image recognition, object detection and scene understanding. A prime example of computer vision is its application in autonomous vehicles whereby AI systems identify various elements on the road, including pedestrians and other vehicles. This includes recognizing objects and understanding their dimensions, as well as discerning potential threats. Another key sensory input for AI applications is speech recognition. This branch of AI and computational linguistics develops systems that can recognize and interpret human speech. Tactile sensing involves outfitting robots with sensors that emulate the human sense of touch. These sensors are capable of detecting various physical attributes such as pressure, texture, temperature and even the contours of objects. Moreover, these robots can undertake delicate tasks like handling a fragile product or performing precise surgical procedures with a level of finesse and sensitivity that just a few years ago was beyond reach. This technology empowers robots to manipulate objects more gently, navigate through intricate environments and interact with their surroundings in a safe and accurate manner. Olfactory sensing with AI provides intelligent machines the ability to detect and interpret various scents. This technology extends beyond simple scent detection. It is capable of deciphering complex odor patterns and understands their relevance for a specific AI application. For example, consider a robot capable of ‘smelling’ a gas leak or ‘identifying’ a specific ingredient in a mixture. Gustatory sensing introduces the sense of taste to AI. This technology develops comprehending flavour profiles. In industries like food and beverage, robots equipped with gustatory sensors could play a crucial role in quality control, ensuring product consistency and excellence.
With AGI to a new Sensing Frontier?
The pursuit of AGI, a form of AI that mimics the human brain’s understanding and cognitive abilities, is increasingly focused on multisensory integration. This approach which combines various sensory inputs, is the key to breaking through the limitations of conventional AI, setting the stage for truly intelligent systems. By integrating sensory experiences like touch, smell and taste, AGI can achieve a more holistic understanding of the world, a crucial step towards realizing human-like intelligence. The concept of multisensory integration in AI reflects our own human ability to assimilate and interpret diverse sensory inputs from our surroundings. Similar to how we blend our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste to form a comprehensive understanding of our environment, AGI systems are being designed to structure inputs from multiple sensory channels. The potential of this integrated sensory approach is both vast and transformative. It empowers these systems to better comprehend context, make more informed decisions and learn from a more diverse range of experiences, mirroring sensor-based human learning processes. Practical applications of multisensory AGI have the potential to revolutionize a number of industries. In healthcare, it could usher in a new era of precision diagnostics and tailored treatment plans by integrating visual, auditory and additional sensory data. Multisensory integration is also essential for crafting AGI systems that interact with humans in a more empathetic and intuitive manner. By interpreting and responding to non-verbal cues like tone of voice, facial expressions and body language, AGI can provide the background for deeper, more meaningful and effective communication.
Conclusion
Multisensory integration in AI is not merely about augmenting individual sensory abilities. Much more so it is about interweaving these abilities to create a complex matrix of intelligence that mirrors the human experience. As we delve deeper into this field, the vision of AGI – an AI that genuinely understands and interacts with the world in a human-like way – becomes increasingly attainable. It empowers a new age of intelligence, paving the way for an unprecedented interaction and understanding between humans and machines by recognizing the contribution of our senses.