Scientists teach robots human behavior by reading fiction

A group of scientists is working to teach an artificial intelligence system how people will react to different situations. They do this by having the system read in a large number of fictional stories.

The researchers work at Stanford University in the United States and have developed an artificial intelligence system called Augur, The Stack reports. They want to be able to estimate human behavior with smart algorithms, so that this can be anticipated. They do this with the help of the database of Wattpad, a writers’ community in which 600,000 stories are stored. These can be used by the AI ​​to gain insight into human behavior. Although it is a fiction, the scientists argue that ‘normal’ human behavior also occurs much more often in such works than dramatized behavior, so that it would give a good picture of what people really are like.

To test whether the idea works, the researchers deployed a camera system powered by Augur. According to Stanford University, the system was able to correctly distinguish between objects and people in 91 percent of the cases. In addition, in 71 percent of cases, a person’s behavior could be classified correctly. Augur does this by making links between different actions. The example is given of a motorist who can, for example, start honking, open or close the window, switch on the radio or fasten his seat belt.

The paper the scientists have put online contains a host of other examples of Augur’s assessment of human behavior. According to the researchers, the next step is implementation in a large number of other applications, including machine learning systems, although they have not yet provided detailed information.