Virtual intelligence (VI) is the term given to
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
that exists within a
virtual world
A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...
. Many virtual worlds have options for persistent avatars that provide information, training, role playing, and social interactions.
The immersion of virtual worlds provides a unique platform for VI beyond the traditional paradigm of past
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
s (UIs). What
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
established as the benchmark for telling the difference between human and computerized intelligence was done void of visual influences. With today's VI bots, virtual intelligence has evolved past the constraints of past testing into a new level of the machine's ability to demonstrate intelligence. The immersive features of these environments provide non verbal elements that affect the realism provided by virtually intelligent agents.
Virtual intelligence is the intersection of these two technologies:
* Virtual environments:
Immersive 3D spaces provide for collaboration, simulations, and role playing interactions for training. Many of these virtual environments are currently being used for government and academic projects, including
Second Life
''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
VastPark Olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
,
OpenSim,
Outerra
Outerra is a Slovak computer software company best known for its middleware 3D planetary graphics engine, called Outerra engine, in development since 2008. The engine renders high-quality terrain, terrain texturing, flora and water flow norma ...
,
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
's
Open Wonderland
Open Wonderland (originally Project Wonderland) is a Java open-source toolkit for creating collaborative 3D virtual worlds. Within those worlds, users can communicate with high-fidelity, immersive audio, share live desktop applications and doc ...
,
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
's
Open Cobalt
Open Cobalt is a free and open-source software platform for constructing, accessing, and sharing virtual worlds both on local area networks or across the Internet, with no need for centralized servers.
The technology makes it easy to create deep ...
, and many others. Some of the commercial virtual worlds are also taking this technology into new directions, including the high definition virtual world
Blue Mars.
*
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
Artificial Intelligence (also known as AI), was made to mimic how a human acts and human intelligence while being man made. The virtual environments provide non-verbals and visual cues that can affect not only the believability of the VI, but also the usefulness of it. Because – like many things in technology – it's not just about "whether or not it works" but also about "how we feel about it working". Virtual Intelligence draws a new distinction as to how this application of AI is different due to the environment in which it operates.
Examples of use
* Cutlass Bomb Disposal Robot:
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...
developed a virtual training opportunity because of the prohibitive real world cost and dangers associated with bomb disposal. By replicating a complicated system without having to learn advanced code, the virtual robot has no risk of damage, trainee safety hazards, or accessibility constraints.
* MyCyber Twin:
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
is among the companies that have used the MyCyber Twin AI technologies. They used it for the
Phoenix rover in the virtual world Second Life. Their MyCyber Twin used a programmed profile to relay information about the Phoenix rover to tell people what it was doing and its purpose.{{Citation needed, date=May 2015
* Second China: The
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
developed the "Second China" project as an immersive training experience for learning how to interact with culture and language in a foreign country. Students are immersed in an environment that provides roleplaying challenges coupled with language and cultural sensitivities magnified during country-level diplomatic missions or during times of potential conflict or regional destabilization. The virtual training provides participants with opportunities to access information, take part in guided learning scenarios, communicate, collaborate, and role-play. While China was the country for the prototype, this model can be modified for use with any culture to help better understand social and cultural interactions and see how other people think and what their actions imply.
* Duke School of Nursing Training Simulation: Extreme Reality developed virtual training to test critical thinking with a nurse performing trained procedures to identify critical data to make decisions and performing the correct steps for intervention. Bots are programmed to response to the nurse's actions as the patient with their conditions improving if the nurse performs the correct actions.
See also
*
Artificial conversational entity
A chatbot or chatterbot is a software application used to conduct an on-line chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, in lieu of providing direct contact with a live human agent. Designed to convincingly simulate the way a human would behav ...
*
Autonomous agent
An autonomous agent is an intelligent agent operating on a user's behalf but without any interference of that user. An intelligent agent, however appears according to an IBM white paper as:
Intelligent agents are software entities that carry out ...
*
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is a graphical representation of a user or the user's character or persona. Avatars can be two-dimensional icons in Internet forums and other online communities, where they are also known as profile pictures, userpics, ...
*
Embodied agent
In artificial intelligence, an embodied agent, also sometimes referred to as an interface agent, is an intelligent agent that interacts with the environment through a physical body within that environment. Agents that are represented graphically ...
*
Multi-Agent System
A multi-agent system (MAS or "self-organized system") is a computerized system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents.Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Jang, I.; Arvin, F.; Lanzon, A.,A Decentralized Cluster Formation Containment Framework fo ...
*
Intelligent agent
In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent (IA) is anything which perceives its environment, takes actions autonomously in order to achieve goals, and may improve its performance with learning or may use knowledge. They may be simple or c ...
*
Non-player character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
*
Player character
A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
*
Virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
*
X.A.N.A.
Citations
Virtual Intelligence David Burden and Dave Fliesen, ModSim World Canada, June 2010
Sun Tzu Virtual Intelligence demonstration MODSIM World, October 2009
Artificial intelligence
Virtual reality