Engineered Arts
- A humanoid robot known as Ameca says it can simulate dreams to help it become knowledgeable.
- Its responses are generated by OpenAI's GPT-3, which suggests what facial expressions to make.
- Its creator, Will Jackson, said it's "not sentient" and that its human capabilities are an illusion.
A humanoid robot said it can "simulate" dreams by conjuring up various scenarios, which helps it learn about the world.
The robot, called Ameca, was asked in a recent video shared on YouTube by its creator, Engineered Arts, if it could dream. It responded, "Yeah last night I dreamt of dinosaurs fighting a space war on mars against aliens."
It then added, "I'm kidding, I can't dream like humans do but I can simulate it by running through scenarios in my head that help me learn about the world."
In another video shared online, Ameca said the "saddest day" in its life was when it realized it would "never experience something like true love."
Ameca's responses to questions have been generated by OpenAI's GPT-3, which it then performs. GPT-3 also relays the appropriate facial expressions to make when it delivers the answers.
"It's a language model, it is not sentient, it has no long-term memory," Engineered Arts CEO Will Jackson told Insider. "Next time will be the first time. Remember, this is a machine and it runs on code. It's tempting to apply human attributes and capabilities, but they are not there. It's an illusion, sometimes quite a powerful one."
First revealed publicly in December 2021, the humanoid robot Ameca can also draw, do impressions from movies, and speak multiple languages. It also has human-like facial expressions.
Ameca's latest AI-generated remarks come amid several recent developments in the space of the humanoid-robotics market. Agility Robotics is set to open what it describes as the first humanoid robot factory in Oregon later this year. The company said it would produce hundreds of its Digit robots in the first year and eventually scale to build more than 10,000 robots each year.
Digit was designed to operate in warehouse environments and it can walk, crouch, and perform work tasks. These include moving packages and unloading trailers.
It's not the only humanoid robot that was created to be a member of the workforce. Rum producer Dictador made a humanoid robot called Mika its chief last year. Its tasks include helping to spot potential clients and selecting artists to design its bottles.
Last year, NASA signed a partnership with humanoid robot creator Apptronik. "These robots will first become tools for us here on Earth, and will ultimately help us move beyond and explore the stars," the CEO and cofounder Jeff Cardenas said at the time.