What depressed robots can teach us about mental health | Zachary Mainen

The idea of a depressed computer may seem absurd – but artificial intelligence and the human brain share a vital feature

Depression seems a uniquely human way of suffering, but surprising new ways of thinking about it are coming from the field of artificial intelligence. Worldwide, over 350 million people have depression, and rates are climbing. The success of today’s generation of AI owes much to studies of the brain. Might AI return the favour and shed light on mental illness?

The central idea of computational neuroscience is that similar issues face any intelligent agent – human or artificial – and therefore call for similar sorts of solutions. Intelligence of any form is thought to depend on building a model of the world – a map of how things work that allows its owner to make predictions, plan and take actions to achieve its goals.

Related: Brain preservation is a step closer, but how could it ever be ‘you’? | Sue Blackmore

Continue reading... April 16, 2018 at 06:34PM