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English Studies ADVANCED LEVEL - 6002 MIDTERM EXAM Date of Exam: 11.8.08 STUDENT’S NAME________________ I.D.No. ______________________ Length of Exam: 2 hours Lecturer: Ms. Noa Kadman You must answer all the questions on this exam in PEN STUDY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN YIELDS INTELLIGENT ROBOTS Adapted from John Markoff, The New York Times, July 18th, 2006 A Robot cars drive themselves across the desert, electronic eyes perform lifeguard duty in swimming pools and virtual enemies with human-like behavior battle video game players. At Stanford University, computer scientists are developing a robot that can use a hammer and a screwdriver to assemble an Ikea bookshelf (a project beyond the reach of many humans) as well as tidy up after a party, load a dishwasher or take out the trash. These are just some of the fruits of the research field known as artificial intelligence or AI. A half-century after the term was coined, both scientists and engineers say they are making rapid progress in simulating the human brain, and their work is finding its way into a new wave of real-world products that can improve safety and security, entertain and inform, or simply perform everyday tasks. Page 1 out of 9 B Artificial intelligence had its origins in 1950, when the mathematician Alan Turing proposed a test to determine whether a machine could think. The test involved having a person face two computer terminals, only one of which had a human behind it. If a human judge could not tell which terminal was controlled by the human, the machine could be said to be ‘intelligent’. In the late 1950s, a field of study emerged that attempted to build systems replicating human capabilities like speech, hearing, manual tasks and reasoning. During the 1960s and 1970s, the original artificial intelligence researchers began designing computer software programs they called “expert systems,” which were essentially databases accompanied by a set of logical rules. But these were handicapped both by underpowered computers and a lack of data (that researchers have since amassed) about the structure and function of the biological brain. Those shortcomings led to the failure of the first generation of artificial intelligence projects during the 1980s, which became known as the “AI Winter.” C Recently, however, researchers have begun to speak about an AI Spring, based on new research on the workings of the human mind. They are being aided by the exponential increase in processing power, which has created computers millions of times more powerful than those available to researchers in the 1960s - at consumer prices. “There’s definitely been a palpable upswing in methods, competence and boldness,” said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft researcher who is president-elect of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. “At conferences you are hearing the phrase ‘human- level AI,’ and people are saying that without blushing.” Though most of the truly futuristic projects are probably years from the commercial market, scientists say that, after a lull, artificial intelligence is rapidly growing far more sophisticated. Some scientists are beginning to use the term ‘cognitive computing,’ to distinguish their research from an earlier generation of artificial intelligence work. What sets the new research apart is a wealth of new biological data on how the human brain functions. Page 2 out of 9 Cognitive computing is still more of a research discipline than an industry that can be measured in revenue or profit. It is being pursued in various pockets of academia and the business world. But despite some of the more dramatic achievements, improvements in the field are measured largely in increments: voice recognition systems with decreasing failure rates, or computerized cameras that can recognize more faces and objects than before. “There is a new synthesis of four fields, including mathematics, neuroscience, computer science and psychology,” said Dharmendra Modha, a computer scientist at International Business Machines. “The implication of this is amazing. Cognitive computing is knocking on the door of potentially mainstream applications.” D These advances have spurred rapid innovations in many areas: Robot cars can now drive autonomously for hundreds of miles and voice control systems are standard features in mid-priced automobiles. Last October, a robot car designed by a team of Stanford engineers covered 132 miles, or 210 kilometers, of desert road without human intervention to capture a $2 million prize offered by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The feat was particularly striking because 18 months earlier during the first such competition, the best vehicle got no farther than seven miles, getting stuck after driving off a mountain road. Now the Pentagon agency has raised the stakes: Next year the robots will be back on the road, this time in traffic in a competition to be called “urban challenge.” At Microsoft, researchers are working on the idea of “predestination.” E Machine intelligence is also now being deployed to actually map the human brain - with the findings, in turn, helping to build better computers. Researchers in Switzerland are building large-scale computer models to study how the brain works, using an IBM Paragraphllel supercomputer to create the most detailed three-dimensional model to date of a column of 10,000 neurons in the neocortex. Henry Markram, a research scientist who is head of the project, called Blue Brain says: “You can now zoom in on single cells and watch the electrical activity emerging.” Page 3 out of 9 Blue Brain researchers say they believe the simulation will provide fundamental insights that can be applied by scientists who are attempting to emulate brain functions. Another well-known researcher is Robert Hecht-Nielsen. Last year he began speaking publicly about his theory of “confabulation,” a hypothesis about the way the brain makes decisions. At a recent IBM symposium, Hecht-Nielsen showed off a model of confabulation, demonstrating how his software program could read two sentences from a newspaper and create a third sentence that both made sense and was a natural extension of the previous text. For example, if the program read: “American Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice had a morning meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. The visit came after Rice had accompanied Olmert on a visit to the Golan Heights and offered her support for possible renewed peace talks with Syria.” Hech-Nielson’s program would then generate a sentence that read: “The two leaders also discussed additional bilateral cooperation in various fields.” F At Stanford, meanwhile, researchers are hoping to make more fundamental progress in mobile robotics, building machines that can carry out tasks around the home, like the current generation of robotic floor vacuums, but more advanced. The field has recently been dominated by Japan and South Korea, but the Stanford researchers have sketched out a three-year plan to bring the United States to parity. At the moment, the Stanford team is working on the first steps necessary to make the robots they are building feel comfortable in an American household, for example by training them to consistently recognize standard doorknobs and installing robotic hands that can open doors. “It’s time to build an AI robot,” said Andrew Ng, a Stanford computer scientist and a leader of the project called the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Robot, or STAIR. “The dream is to put a robot in every home.” Page 4 out of 9 PART ONE: Based on your Global Reading of the text, match the main idea to the correct Paragraphgraph. (18 points) ______ Robotic cars and software that makes driving almost effortless are on the way. ______ AI got off to a bumpy start. ______ Someday soon, dreams straight out of science fiction may invade our lives. ______ Better late than never – Americans may soon have robotic helpers in their homes. ______ The human brain is the ultimate model for all AI-based systems. _____ Cognitive computing is the hottest term in AI. PART TWO: Mark the following statements TRUE or FALSE and EXPLAIN by quoting the relevant sentences – or parts of sentences from the text. Line references alone will not be accepted. (16 points) 1. The text implies that robots may be better than many people at doing some ordinary household tasks. TRUE / FALSE. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 2. From the very beginning, AI was very successful in imitating human thought processes and creating products that assist humans. TRUE / FALSE. ___________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Page 5 out of 9 3. We can understand from the text that cognitive computing is fast becoming a profitable area for investors. TRUE \ FALSE. ___________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 4. Advances in the fields of human brain research and computer hardware are mutually beneficial. TRUE \ FALSE. __________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ PART THREE: Based on your Close Reading of the text, answer the following questions. Keep your answers brief and to the point, but wherever required, write complete sentences using correct punctuation, syntax, grammar and spelling. (50 points) 1. Fill in the following cloze with ONE word according to the text. (4 points) The goal of early AI systems was to build computers that could __________, ____________and ____________ like ___________. 2. a) What does the term "AI Winter" refer to and why is this metaphor used ? (4 points) _______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ b) What does the term "AI Spring" refer to and why is this metaphor used? (4 points) ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Page 6 out of 9 3. Complete the following sentences: (8 points) a. According to Paragraph C, the main difference between the work of earlier AI researchers and that of today’s more sophisticated cognitive computing projects is __________________________________________ ___________________________________which was made possible due to the incredibly fast growth of __________________________________ combined with the decrease in ____________________________________. 4. What is one IBM scientist's prediction regarding the field of cognitive computing? Answer in your own words. (8 points) ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 5. In your opinion, what possible interest could the Pentagon have in the development of vehicles that drive themselves or can be controlled by voice commands ? (6 points) ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________. 6. Complete the following sentence in your own words: (8 points) The ability to watch single cells closely and the electrical activity emerging can lead to…________________________________________________________ which can later be used to __________________________________________ Page 7 out of 9 6. Fill in each space below with ANY suitable NOUN in the correct form. (4 points) Robert Hecht-Nielsen’s ___________ of confabulation, (as illustrated in the example of the Condoleeza Rice/Ehud Olmert report) shows that one day ___________ may be equipped with the human-like ____________to reason and make logical ________________. 7. The following sentence has been omitted from this text. Where does it belong in the text ? “They envision a software program that guesses where you are heading based on previous trips, and then offers information that might be useful, based on where the software thinks you are going. “ (4 points) Paragraph_________________ line _____________ PART FOUR – References –What do the underlined words/expressions refer to in the text ? (8 points) 1. those shortcomings – Paragraph B ___________________________________________________________ 2. those – Paragraph C ________________________________________________________ 3. that – Paragraph C ________________________________________________________ 4. this – Paragraph C ________________________________________________________ Page 8 out of 9 PART FIVE – Vocabulary – Find the word/expression in the text which is closest in meaning to the following: (8 points) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. the name was devised/formulated (verb) – Paragraph A clear/tangible – (adjective) - Paragraph C a pause/break –(noun) Paragraph C small amounts/gains (plural noun)– Paragraph C pushed/driven (verb)– Paragraph D to imitate (verb)– Paragraph E involving two sides – (adjective) - Paragraph E to raise the level/ to make at least equal – Paragraph F THE END GOOD LUCK! Page 9 out of 9 Intelligent Robots\Revised on 1.8.08 ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________