Artificial intelligence probe design (Image: Adrian Mann)
AI has frequently been proposed as a key enabler for interstellar exploration and colonization. However, no comprehensive study of the various AI-enabled concepts for interstellar probes has been conducted to date. This has now changed with a brand-new article by renowned science fiction writer Stephen Baxter and Andreas Hein, who have published an in-depth study of the various possibilities of using AI for interstellar travel, ranging from extrapolations from existing AI systems to systems with human-level AI for colonization, self-replication, and even preparing encounters with an extraterrestrial intelligence. Drawing from the scientific as well as science fiction literature, the two authors create a fascinating landscape of possibilities, using approaches from formal computer science and spacecraft systems engineering.
The article can be freely downloaded from arXiv:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.06526
For an overview of i4is work on AI interstellar probes, visit:
