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(MLive file photo)

"Chappie," a new movie about the first robot to possess human intelligence and emotions, isn't far off from what Michigan State University researchers are attempting to develop.



Chris Adami, a computational biologist at MSU, is leading the effort to create robots that could someday think and feel like people, and interact with them.



"My goal is to push this large-scale effort as far as we can," Adami told me.



Artificial intelligence has been the stuff of science fiction for decades. But Adami said its development in the real world has been slowed by the lack of understanding about how the human brain works.



"The most that we have come up with is a vacuum cleaner--the Roomba," he said.



Adami said he thinks the key to developing human-like robots is using the principles of Darwinian evolution to produce artificial brains that will give robots human-level consciousness.



"We understand the process of evaluation," he said. "Let's just evolve these brains. We can speed up the process inside a computer."



But developing robots that can think and act like humans is becoming increasingly controversial as progress on artificial intelligence advances.



Some leading scientists and technology executives recently signed an open letter calling for research to maximize the societal benefit of artificial intelligence while "avoiding potential pitfalls."



Among them was prominent scientist Stephen Hawking, who recently said that artificial intelligence "could spell the end of the human race."



Or maybe just take all our jobs. Gartner Inc., a technology research firm, last year predicted that one-third of all jobs will be displaced by software, robots and smart machines by 2025.



Adami, not surprisingly, is more upbeat. Technological advancement has historically led to greater societal wealth and he sees that trend continuing with the development of artificial intelligence.



Initially, robots are likely to take dangerous or menial jobs that humans either can't or won't do, he said.



Human-like robots also could provide care and companionship for elderly people.



"They would be very interesting conversation partners because they would have differing experiences." Adami said.



But Adami acknowledges that artificial intelligence will pose a variety of ethical and economic challenges.



For instance, should robots with human intelligence and emotions be forced to do jobs that humans want them to do?



"Should they be used as slave labor? Maybe it's more ethical to let them do whatever they want," Adami said. "Why shouldn't they have their own rights?"



Human-like robots are likely at least decades away. If he's successful, Adami said it will probably take 10 to 20 years to evolve robot brains.



And once robots are "born," it would take another 10 to 15 years for their intelligence and feelings to mature.



"They're like infants," Adami said. "They don't know much about the real world."



The question is: will they be friends or foes of humans in that world?

Email Rick Haglund at haglund.rick@gmail.com