Time of the Terminators? A robot has become self-aware

Some days, it feels that your laptop is conspiring against you. Pretty soon, it may be.

According to the Independent, a robot has passed a self-awareness test.

The test involved the traditional "King's Wise Men" test.

The test is a brainteaser where a king places a hat on the heads of three wise men. The hat could be blue or white, and at least one of the hats would be blue. The men were not allowed to speak to each other. Whoever stood up first and said what color the hat were wearing was would be the new adviser.

Robotic experts at Ransselaer Polytechnic Institute adapted the test for robots, the Independent reported. Two were told they were given a pill that prevents them from speaking. Then they were asked which could still talk. All three originally said, "I don't know." But one realized its own voice and followed up with "Sorry, I know now."

The scientists said answering the question hardly amounts to "scaling the foothills of consciousness."

This isn't the first time a computer took on human thinking characteristics. Last year, a super-computer passed the "Turning Test" and convinced humans that it was a 13-year-old boy, the Independent reported last June.

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