Conversation with aliens: scientists propose to send AI into space to speak to earthlings and “receive answers”
Kyiv • UNN
Astronomers have proposed an artificial intelligence project to exchange messages with extraterrestrial intelligence. The idea is to send a large AI language model into space so that it can speak on behalf of earthlings.
According to scientists, a large language model of artificial intelligence should allow aliens to communicate with representatives of the planet Earth.
Written by UNN with reference to Futurism.com and the French weekly Le Point.
Details
In an editorial for Scientific American, SETI Institute astronomer French Marchis and NASA researcher Ignacio G. Lopez-Francois, both of whom are involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), proposed an artificial intelligence project called “messaging extraterrestrial intelligence,” or METI for short.
METI can only be enhanced by introducing something as interactive as a large AI language model (LLM), and then sending such a model into space to speak for us.
Aliens could learn one of our languages, ask LLMs questions about us and get answers that are representative of humanity
In particular, Lopez-Francois and Marchis believe that some of these alien worlds “could have technological civilizations that are interested in meeting us and learning about us.
Several methods could be used to send messages into space: radio, laser, or even messages on copper disks, which could make the transmission as fast as possible. At the same time, Marchis and Lopez-Francois recognized that some huge technological hurdles would have to be overcome first.
By sending well-trained large language models into space, we will open the door to unprecedented exchanges with extraterrestrial intelligences, ensuring that our heritage will survive even when we cannot
The first intelligent message received from space
Last year, planetary scientist Frank Marcis supported the idea of conducting the most realistic planetary simulation of the first reception of an extraterrestrial message.
On May 24, 2023, the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter probe transmitted the first intelligent message from space to Earth.
Only one person knew its content: the interdisciplinary Italian artist Daniela De Paulis, the initiator of the scientific and artistic project “Sign in Space” working at the Network Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The resulting message was presented during an online event and shared on all social media so that everyone could take on this amazing challenge.
The answer came on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. It took two members of the community of several thousand enthusiasts who gathered around this project over a year and many months of sharing information on the Discord communication platform to decipher the message. It took the group of participants a week to unearth the 8212-byte binary file contained in the original message.
The researchers decrypted the message using a reversible block machine developed by Canadian mathematician Norman Margolus, associated with the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as software used to create video games, lepoint.fr reports.
