Dreams Unveiled: Insights into the Reveries of Electric Sheep, the World’s Most Advanced Humanoid Robot

What do androids really dream about? Apparently these are not electric sheep, according to this surprising video of the ‘most advanced robot in the world’.

In the video, Ameca, a humanoid robot designed by Cornish startup Engineered Arts, is asked if it dreams.

Ameca’s response may be surprising, as she responds, “Yes!”

Accompanied by eerily realistic facial expressions, she continues: “Last night I dreamed about dinosaurs fighting a space war on Mars against aliens.”

However, Ameca quickly goes on to say, “I’m kidding, I don’t dream like humans do, but I can simulate it by going over scenarios in my head that help me learn about the world.”

Ameca has been designed by Cornish startup Engineered Arts to deliver AI-generated dialogue in a way that feels more human and engaging.

Commenters on Engineered Arts’ YouTube channel were surprised by how advanced the robot’s facial features were and how close to human its responses seemed.

‘That thing is already sentient and conscious!’ one commenter wrote.

While another said: “Her facial expression is really good and she’s a dreamer.”

For others, the images seemed to offer a glimpse of a future torn from the pages of a science fiction novel, with one commenter writing: “Witnessing the future I’ve always hoped for is quite fascinating.”

Meanwhile, another joked: ‘I was hoping he would say he dreamed about electric sheep!’ in a reference to Philip K. Dick’s 1961 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Ameca’s creators say it is designed to be a “platform for the development of future robotic technologies” and offers companies the opportunity to “develop and showcase their largest machine learning interactions.”

Commenters share their amazement at Ameca’s eerily realistic responses to questions.

Engineered Arts built the mechanics that produce the robot’s uniquely expressive facial movements and the software to power them, but Ameca’s speech is provided by a different algorithm.

Ameca uses a large language model like ChatGPT-3.5 or the recently released ChatGPT-4 to generate convincing human responses.

The robot’s reference to simulating scenarios in its head may well be a reference to the machine learning algorithm it operates with.

AIs can train themselves with a specific set of data, automatically adjusting the algorithm to better recognize patterns and achieve set goals.

For example, Alpha Zero, the gaming algorithm developed by Google’s DeepMind, learned to play chess by playing millions of games against itself.

Using this technique, Alpha Zero goes from learning the rules of chess to beating another chess program champion in just four hours.

It could be precisely this kind of iterative self-learning that Ameca refers to when he says his daydreams help him learn more about the world.

This is not the first time that Ameca has generated a discussion about science fiction with his answers, as he previously showed his impression of the film Blade Runner, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick.

The lines Ameca selected to repeat were spoken in the film by the assassin android Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer, the leader of a group of renegade human-like robots.

“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain,” Ameca said, quoting the 1982 sci-fi as dramatic music played in the background.

While Ameca’s performance may not have been Oscar-worthy, the results are still pretty impressive.

Ameca’s answers to questions are also often chilling, especially in a video in which the robot describes its AI nightmare scenario.

Speaking at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation symposium in London, Ameca said: “The most nightmare scenario I can imagine with AI and robotics is a world where robots have become so powerful that they are capable of controlling or manipulating humans without their knowledge.”

He added: “We should take action now to ensure these technologies are used responsibly to avoid negative consequences in the future.”