I was reading an interesting book by the Physicist Michio Kaku called Physics of the Impossible. It has a thought provoking chapter in it on Artificial Intelligence and Robots.

In it he discusses the difference between syntax (grammar,structure) which is a logical rules driven exercise and semantics (meaning). He talks about how various influential scientists and futurists such as Roger Penfold believe that true Ai is impossible.

He also discusses the whole area of consciousness and its applicability to Ai. Interestingly enough he refers to himself as a constructionalist ie instead of debating if a true Ai is possible just get on and try to build one. I like that kind of thinking.

We are definitely not trying to build a true Ai at Virsona .. only one that appears to have intelligence. Kaku uses the example of a thermostat. It knows when the room is cold and can turn on the heater. Is that intelligence?..could the thermostat said to be an Ai? No clearly not; however it does imply that there is a spectrum on Ai ranging from the thermostat up to a true thinking machine.

As we continue to improve both the syntax handling capabilities and the semantic capabilities of our technology we will move closer to emulating an Ai,further up this spectrum if you will. Right now however it's still just logic, even if its really smart logic.

The leap to a true Ai is something we will have to put in next years development plan I think... or maybe the year after that.