As I prepared our swarm robots for a high school demo after a day of Special Ops testing in the hills, my confidence in our shared control system was shaken by an eerie detection—one that multiple robots saw, but no human could. What began as a technical mystery teasing at ghosts ended with a lesson in humility and fog, reminding me that the key to solving autonomy’s paradox isn’t eliminating humans—it’s embracing collaboration and the right metaphor for interaction.
Tag: Artificial Intelligence
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The Robot and the White Lady of Ramona
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The Ultimate Test for AI
As AI surpasses humans in mimicking empathy and contextual understanding, even outperforming doctors in perceived compassion, it raises deep questions about what truly makes us human. Amid humorous and heartfelt anecdotes, the author realizes that while AI may master “cool,” only human empathy—raw, irrational, and profound—can preserve our shared humanity.
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In Praise of Basic Instinct
Large language models dominate today’s AI, but their reliance on text divorces them from the real-world truth that lives in motion, sensation, and instinct—the very foundation of human and biological intelligence. To restore meaning and trust in AI, we must shift toward embodied, swarm-based systems that act on perception and feedback, where truth is not spoken, but felt and proven through motion.
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Are We Playing Chess or Dodgeball?
Despite massive investment and hype, scalable AI systems modeled on cloud-based optimization and data alone continue to hit real-world limits, especially in chaotic, unstructured environments more like dodgeball than chess. The key to unlocking robust, adaptive AI lies not in discarding human-crafted primitives but in embracing them—just as biology seeds learning with instinctual behaviors, robotics must begin with embodied, low-level intelligence that enables true situated learning and agile response.
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Less Autonomy, More Teaming
True scalability in robotics won’t come from full autonomy or direct control, but from mixed-initiative teaming—a collaborative, context-aware system where humans and AI dynamically share control based on strengths, performance, and mission needs. By prioritizing humanity-centered design and distributed intelligence over centralized command, we can enable resilient swarming behaviors that are not only more effective but also more ethical in complex, real-world environments.
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Is Software Eating the World?
The dream of fully autonomous systems, built solely on software and individual intelligence, is faltering in the real world—where chaos, edge cases, and scale demand infrastructure that supports swarm intelligence and shared situational awareness. To achieve meaningful autonomy at scale, we must blend software with intelligent, distributed infrastructure that enables real-world positioning, coordination, and flow—a new kind of ecosystem where hardware isn’t a crutch but the nervous system of the future.
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AI is the Seawitch – I Want My Voice Back
As generative AI blurs the boundaries between synthetic and real, truth itself is at risk of becoming just another corporate asset—shaped by ideology, monetized through your gaze, and sold back as reality. To resist this drift, we must ground AI in real-world data, accurate positioning, and measurable impact, ensuring that it reflects—not replaces—our humanity, our choices, and our wrinkled, complicated truths.
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The Horasis Council for the Ethical Practice of AI
Artificial intelligence is reshaping society in subtle yet profound ways—often prioritizing corporate control, monetization, and hidden influence over transparency, individual empowerment, and human dignity. The Horasis International Council on the Ethical Practice of AI seeks to shift the conversation through real stories, emphasizing performance, equity, human-centered design, and the need for systems that elevate rather than exploit us.
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Oral History with Changemakers for Business Ethics – UCSD
This oral history features David Bruemmer, founder of Adaptive Motion Group (AMG), discussing his journey from childhood in Scotland to pioneering autonomous systems in robotics. Bruemmer emphasizes the importance of precise positioning and distributed autonomy in creating safe, efficient motion systems that integrate humans and machines. Drawing from his early fascination with robotics and experience at DARPA, he critiques centralized, server-dependent models of control in AI and autonomous vehicles. Instead, he advocates for peer-to-peer, fault-tolerant systems that enhance human autonomy and environmental awareness.
He also shares insights on entrepreneurship, storytelling as a vehicle for technological impact, and the deep connection between philosophical principles and real-world innovation. Throughout, Bruemmer reflects on the importance of ethical, intuitive, and human-centered technology as both a technical and societal imperative.