Researchers have recently proved that a computer or electricity is not necessary to create artificial intelligence as they have created an AI from a sheet of glass.
Scientist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a way to generate AI-enabled smart glass that is able to identify images without the need for any kind of sensors, circuits or a power source.
“We’re always thinking about how we provide vision for machines in the future, and imagining application specific, mission-driven technologies,” said researcher Zongfu Yu. “This changes almost everything about how we design machine vision.”
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The team essentially made a sheet of ‘smart’ glass that could recognize handwritten digits. In order to make such an AI, the team placed various sizes and shapes of air bubbles at certain spots within the glass. They then added bits of strategically positioned light-absorbing material, including graphene.
As per Futurism, when the researchers wrote down a number, the light reflecting off the digit entered one side of the glass. The bubbles and impurities then scattered the lightwaves in specific ways based on the number until they reached one of the 10 specified spots – each corresponding to a different digit – on the glass’ opposite side.
The glass then told the researchers the number it saw, that too at the speed of light and without the requirement for any traditional computing power source. “We’re accustomed to digital computing, but this has broadened our view,” Yu said. “The wave dynamics of light propagation provide a new way to perform analog artificial neural computing.”
The smart glass though might not be able to perform entire complex calculations, but the team is sure that it can be helpful for smartphone security. Using a trained sheet of this smart glass to the phone’s front will enable it to unlock the phone without draining much power.
“We could potentially use the glass as a biometric lock, tuned to recognize only one person’s face,” Yu said. “Once built, it would last forever without needing power or internet, meaning it could keep something safe for you even after thousands of years.”