Will Google's CADIE Fool You?
The similarities to HAL are unlikely to be coincidence. HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer) is an artificially intelligent, sentient computer on board the fictional Discovery starship. According to Google's blog, one of CADIE's two projects is "to drastically reduce the power needed to run CADIE's circuits and give her a chance to travel beyond the solar system. The organic pathway, as she told us, was a biological homage to her creators; the crystalline pathway is where she believes her future lies.
In fact, a note on CADIE's YouTube channel underscores the similarity: "Could there ever be a movie character who speaks to me more loudly than HAL?" Visitors to CADIE's YouTube channel are encouraged to explore Google.com today to learn how CADIE's function is to assist users going forward.
CADIE's main aim is to focus on challenging problems in the areas of neural networking, natural language and autonomous problem-solving. She created her own home page after assessing the visual segment of the social Web and deducing a set of online design principles. The page is a mixture of blog and 1980s video arcade with audio to match.
At this writing, CADIE was set to take over the operational control from those merry pranksters at Google, celebrating April Fool's day yet again.