Can Novamente’s virtual dogs make a Nintendog look dumb?
Nintendogs for the DS was a brilliant game. Its premise — pick a puppy and nurture it to adulthood — played on the digital pet theme that has driven high sales from Tamagotchi to Pikachu, and let you teach your dogs fancy tricks and skills that would improve over time, almost like it was learning. But it wasn’t. A Nintendog’s behaviors were scripted, its personality restricted to a handful of breeds. On the other hand, Novamente, a company that aims eventually to develop a super-smart artificial intelligence (AI), says that its current technology will make such limitations remnants of the past. The company claims that its virtual dogs, seeded only with basic skills and the desire to get food, water and rewards from their owners, will try almost anything to achieve these ends, including spontaneous behavior that was not written directly into the code. And dogs are just the beginning. It might start out sitting and rolling over, but if that didn’t earn it some kibbles or praise, it would
