Motus Mentis

Here we go:

With the help of a supercomputer running AI software, boffins at an American university have created a new life-form they call “xenobots”, which are are tiny, motile blobs of tissue made from frog stem-cells. Under the guidance of the AI — which, as AIs tend to do these days, took off on a line of thinking that the humans who built it have no way of following — the wee animalcules assumed a shape that enabled them to develop a means of reproduction never before seen on Earth: they gather up compact piles of loose stem-cells that grow into new xenobots.

“Most people think of robots as made of metals and ceramics but it’s not so much what a robot is made from but what it does, which is act on its own on behalf of people,” said Josh Bongard, a computer science professor and robotics expert at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study.
“In that way it’s a robot but it’s also clearly an organism made from genetically unmodified frog cell.”

So: a robot “acts on its own on behalf of people”. We might ask: “Why does it do that?” (I rather think Professor Bongard et al. haven’t.)

Not to worry:

While the prospect of self-replicating biotechnology could spark concern, the researchers said that the living machines were entirely contained in a lab and easily extinguished, as they are biodegradable and regulated by ethics experts.
The research was partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a federal agency that oversees the development of technology for military use.
“There are many things that are possible if we take advantage of this kind of plasticity and ability of cells to solve problems,” Bongard said.

Right then, that’s enough for tonight, children! It’s all in the hands of experts. Off you go to bed. Sweet dreams.