Irony meets Satire, gives birth to Patent
Ethical artificial intelligence patented:
The patent, Inductive Inference Affective Language Analyzer Simulating AI (# 6,587,846) introduces the concept of the Ten Ethical Laws of Robotics. According to a statement from inventor John LaMuth, the patent represents “the first AI system incorporating ethical/motivational terms, enabling a computer to reason and speak ethically, serving in roles specifying sound human judgment.”
I call first dibs on patenting creative artificial intelligence as well as rhyme and reason.
The real gems are not just the rubber-stamps at the USPTO but the artificially and vaguely defined virtues and vices (can someone say openended?).
A fun thought
Based upon the four civil liberties LaMuth devised (providence, liberty, civility and austerity) one wonders that if/when such a hair-brained scheme comes into fruition, will the robot(s) close down the Patent office? After all, it could be argued that State-enforced trade monopolies violate their robotic ethos and correspond to the vices: prodigality, slavery, vulgarity and cruelty.
Also, are the families of Hammurabi or Moses entitled to some royalties?
Note: to defend against accusations of being ignorant on this manner, I would like to point out that the USPTO granted the monopoly on the claimed invention, not statements that are made in the description - the description just has to enable what is claimed. In the words of Stephan Kinsella, "you only have to have a tiny amount of utility for patent purposes, and novelty, and non-obviousness." And the patent apparently fits that bill.
Via Slashdot. Special thanks to Jesse Ogden for letting me steal his idea.
Comments (4)
Jesse
Wow, so you can patent intelligence....I want to patent artificial abstract constructs too!
Published: August 22, 2004 6:41 PM
SilasXdX
I want a patent on the process of producing a consciousness. In other words, I want a monopoly on procreative sex.
Published: August 22, 2004 6:53 PM
Caley McKibbin
I want to patent oxygen inspiration.
Published: August 22, 2004 10:27 PM
John LaMuth (patent inventor)
Greetings All,
Thank you for your comments on my recently issued ethical AI patent...
Perhaps a little of my background would be in order. I am not an expert in the IT field, being an independent researcher with a master's degree in counseling psychology. Sometimes, however, the best cross pollination comes from outside the field.
Along these lines, I was granted a patent for ethical AI and thought there might be applications to a general purpose AI assistant. The ethical safeguards allow one to trust this assistant implictly in daily matters. I have found that proprietary control is typically required to attract the venture capital and R&D necessary to implement. I also only applied for patent rights in my native country, the rest of the world is free to run with the concept as they see fit..
This new system is actually more than just an ethical hierarcy,
but an elaborate process of 31 distinct
steps of information processing necessary
to produce the AI simulation, as shown in the
Master Diagram link below:
www.angelfire.com/rnb/fairhaven/pat-diagram.html
I would like to appeal to the AI community to seriously evaluate this new system for these kind of the applications to the project. The patent is mostly diagrams, with the text really amounting to about 12 pages in a Journal style format. The complete specification, along with diagrams, is posted at:
www.ethicalvalues.com
Also, a master diagram of 408 ethical terms is posted at:
www.angelfire.com/rnb/fairhaven/Masterdiagram.html
Should this invention truly hold potential, I would greatly appreciate collaborating in this regard. My intentions are heartfelt and I would deeply appreciate an evaluation from experts within the field.
Sincerely
John E. LaMuth
www.ethicalvalues.com
www.charactervalues.com
Published: August 24, 2004 2:31 AM