lclough wrote:
] ] In the next few months, after being patiently nurtured
] ] for 22 years, an artificial brain called Cyc (pronounced
] ] "psych") will be put online for the world to interact
] ] with. And it's only going to get cleverer. Opening Cyc up
] ] to the masses is expected to accelerate the rate at which
] ] it learns, giving it access to the combined knowledge of
] ] millions of people around the globe as it hoovers up new
] ] facts from web pages, webcams and data entered manually
] ] by anyone who wants to contribute.
] ]
] ]
] ] Crucially, Cyc's creator says it has developed a human
] ] trait no other AI system has managed to imitate: common
] ] sense. "I believe we are heading towards a singularity
] ] and we will see it in less than 10 years," says Doug
] ] Lenat of Cycorp, the system's creator.
]
] It's about time. Cyc has been perported to be on the verge of
] taking off for five years now. It would be really exciting if
] Lenat's decades-long effort were to be successful.

I remember going to a symposium at MIT in 1989 where the head of the AI lab predicted a 'singularity' within 18 months.

I didn't hold my breath.