Perlis Featured in Live Science Article About Artificial Intelligence

Fri Dec 05, 2014

Don Perlis, a professor in the Department of Computer Science with appointments in UMIACS and the Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, was featured in a Dec. 4 story on livescience.com about concerns surrounding the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

The article explores how AI researchers are focused on developing intelligent systems that make people's lives easier— from software that can recognize objects and animals, to digital assistants that cater to, and even anticipate, their owners' needs and desires— but prominent figures like famed physicist Stephen Hawking and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk are warning that the development of AI should be cause for concern.

"The idea of intelligence existing in some form that's not human seems to have a deep hold in the human psyche," Perlis says.

Perlis's research focuses mainly on artificial intelligence, including commonsense reasoning; flexible, domain-general, self-adjusting autonomous systems; and philosophical issues surrounding language, the mind and consciousness.