The Secret to Programming AI

This morning I was taking my walk by the river invigorated by the brisk chill, and soothed by the calm river and the remnants of fog clinging to it’s surface, listening to Lewis Howes interview Bryan Johnson on the School of Greatness Podcast, when the thought came to me that AI would need to be programmed in a different way.

The thought was sparked by something said in the podcast, and the fact that last night I had watched the movie Chappie, which has the premise of putting experimental AI into a “police robot”. The AI robot ‘Chappie’ had to learn, rather than be programmed.

It’s obvious that programming a simple ‘robot’ is about putting all the instructions into its’ programming. But this limits the effectiveness of the machine. If it comes across something new, outside of the programming it is useless and has no answer.

This is where AI comes in. Artificial Intelligence is about building a framework that learns so when it comes across a new problem, it can learn to solve it through trial, error and built up experience. But when you install the AI framework, the machine knows nothing so how do you program/teach it?

The answer that occurred to me on my morning walk is that the most efficient way to teach such AI is to expose them to stories. Stories that present a problem, and then show the ramification of the problem and possible solutions, and the ideal final solution.

Stories like this allow the AI to ‘borrow’ the experience quickly and learn from it, creating a basis for its’ own decision making to start with. These ‘stories will be supplemented or overwritten as the AI forms its’ own experiences on which to base decisions.

This is nothing new of course. Throughout history we have taught our children, our families, our communities and our employees through the use of stories. It is no surprise that all major religions of the world have stories as their foundation.

Which brings us full circle and back to the point of this post.

We operate in the same way as AI. It is obvious when stated, because AI is a framework trying to replicate the way Humans think. But we forget to look at things this way. Using this AI context allows me to look at my current performance and situation, and ask myself ‘What stories do I need that can help me resolve these problems or improve my situation?”

Or the equally, if not more important question: “What stories have I taken on board in the past that no longer serve me? What can I forget, dump or overwrite with new stories to help me better move forward?”

Stories are how you can effectively program yourself and others to do better, be more, and enjoy life. It’s all there for the taking.