ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The American computer company IBM says it has developed a microprocessor -- a computer chip -- that
works much like the human brain.
IBM calls the chip TrueNorth. It is the size of a postage stamp. The chip has 5.4 billion tiny parts that
work like the human brains neurons and synapses. Neurons and synapses are the cells and electric
forces that carry messages to and from the brain.
TrueNorth has 1 million neurons and 256 million synapses. The human brain has 100 billion neurons and
up to 150 trillion synapses. IBM says it can program the new chip to understand difficult problems and
then solve them as humans would.
The company says the TrueNorth chip could be used as a brain for search-and-rescue robots. It can also
be used for controlling new kinds of wheelchairs or for recording conversations involving several people
and then making a printed record of those conversations.
TrueNorth is still being tested. But IBM says it could be available for public use in two to three years.
The chip is just one example of machines becoming more and more like humans. This field of study is
called artificial intelligence, or AI. Some experts believe computers will someday become more
intelligent than humans.
Researchers are trying to develop ways for humans and computers to work together more closely.
Someday, humans and computers may be joined. The combination of a human and a computer is called
a cyborg.
Jonathan Mugan has written a book about the relationship between humans and computers, called The
Curiosity Cycle. He told VOA by email that it is time to prepare for a future where computers have more
control over our lives.
In his words, machines are technology. And technology expands as human knowledge expands. By
contrast, human intelligence developed through evolution, which is a much slower process.
Mr. Mugan believes that smarter computers are good for humans. He says intelligent machines can help
humans solve many of our most difficult problems.
But he says once computers become broadly smarter than humans, its hard to predict what will
happen.
Im Jonathan Evans.
Words in the News
artificial intelligence (A.I.) - n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to
seem like that have human intelligence
cyborg - n. a person whose body contains mechanical or electrical devices and whose abilities are
greater than normal humans
intelligence n. the ability to think or learn
neuron - n. a cell that carries messages between the brain and other parts of the body
synapse - the place where a signal passes from one nerve cell to another