In early August, the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency made a $16.1 million award to IBM for
work on the SyNAPSE
project, which stands for Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic
Scalable Electronics. The SyNAPSE program's explicit goal is to propose a new
architecture for learning and sensory machines that can scale to biological
levels—in effect, chips that work like brains and can handle huge amounts of
data.
They aren't kidding, either. The DARPA project scope requires respondents to
propose hardware, architecture, mechanisms for simulating the function of
circuits, and environmental tools for training the brains; and the so-called
Phase 0 metrics by which proofs of concept will be go/no-go evaluated are
entirely neuroanatomical. They're talking about building synaptic components
that work like nerve cells, demonstrating learning in response to the timing of
electrical spike-trains used as input. Subsequent phases detail requirements to
create working brains with capabilities roughly equal to those of small
mammals, larger mammals and eventually humans.
My favorite part in this marvelously deadpan document, from final phase
requirements: "Describe a high-level, conceptual electronics
implementation capable of supporting the neuromorphic architecture of 10^14
synapses, 10^10 neurons ..., total power less than 1kw and total volume less
than two liters, including interfaces for sensory inputs and motor
outputs."
They did not, I note, include anything about the Three Laws of Robotics in the
BAA scope.

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