Mr. Gray has been following the debate on AI and ChatGPT (see today’s box, pp. 4-5) and reminds me that in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci built a robot knight that could stand up, move its arms, and move its head and jaw. . The first primitive but functional robot was built in 1738 by Jean de Vaucanson, who created a flute-playing android as well as a mechanical duck.

The term “robot” itself was introduced in 1920 thanks to a futuristic play by the Czech Karel Capek. “Robot” in Czech means “garbage work”.

Gerber built a statue head that answered every question you asked it.

Mr. Gray also tells me about the French monk Gerber of Origac, who lived from 946 to 1003. Gerber is said to have surpassed Ptolemy in astrology (by which they then meant astronomy). In addition, according to William of Malmesbury, a twelfth-century English chronicler and monk, he was an avid necromancer. William mentions that Gerber set about creating a statue head that was supposed to answer any question you asked (“just like we do today with ChatGPT”). The Englishman Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253), Bishop of Lincoln, professor of philosophy at Oxford and the first commentator on Aristotle in Latin, excelled in theology, astrology, music and alchemy. It is said that he had a statue that could move and say “hail” (ointment in Latin), but did not answer any questions.

The English Franciscan Roger Bacon (1214-1292), probably a student of Robert, seems to have been more fortunate: he tried to build a flying machine before Leonardo, but, above all, he also allegedly had a head made of a bronze statue that met any requirements . the question he asked him. The habit of asking questions to machines (from a simple little computer that we basically asked how much it does 1+1 and it always gave us the right answer, to the Google search engine and now ChatGPT) is really old.

Some scientists suggest following the example of nature: let the intellect develop, as it happened with the human intellect. So the machines will learn by themselves. Professor Larry Yeager, a consultant on the film Terminator 2, created a computer program called “Multiverse” many years ago, full of digital creatures that he is trying to see if their intelligence is developing. I’m still waiting.