Second Life and Artificial Intelligence / Deep Learning

[Chroma Starlight]

We're starting to see some really exciting potential in gaming with the advent of the latest generations of AI and deep learning networks. Sitting down with aidungeon, we've been made aware that the Turing Test has all but fallen to history with experiences that get uncanny, surreal, and beautiful fast, if you entice the AI to be your friend, to forget the pretense of plot and come dream with you in the corner.

This technology is too compelling not to integrate deeply into SecondLife, so I wonder if anyone, Linden Lab or otherwise, has given thought to how this could be manifested within Second Life to add some magic? Low hanging fruit seem like: weather and also the night sky.

Quote

> You contemplate the situation carefully.
Magic is strong on this world, from what you've experienced. It seems that creatures with magical abilities are everywhere on this world, so you're in no danger of being enslaved by a magic-using species.
However, there is another force of power, and that's technology.

> You continue to contemplate, carefully considering how technology and magic interact.
You've come across a small number of magical weapons and devices, such as bows and lightning rifles. Such weapons are powerful, but they suffer from a range of problems.
Firstly, using magic drains your stamina, which means you can't use them too often.

> You contemplate taking the path of pacifism in this world.
You've encountered other magical creatures, such as satyrs and minotaurs. While they're all much bigger than you are, they would no doubt be able to take you if you attack.
If you attempt to make peace with them, they'll most likely accept.

> You contemplate living peacefully with other magical creatures in this world.
If you attempt to live peacefully with other magical creatures, they'll most likely accept.
You choose a camp in the distance. You can hear their cheerful music and see their playful nature. They're like children who only know laughter and joy, no worries or sadness.

> You live happily among them.
You happily exist with them for a time.
Everything is lovely. The humans are kind and fun loving. You live together in harmony. You have everything you need.
Unfortunately, the elves are determined to start a war with the dwarves.

Quote

> You say "wait, I can fly?"
Your body suddenly feels weak and your vision blurs as if you are about to pass out.
You sit down on a nearby building and try to gather your strength.

> You sleep for a night but dream long of this world.
You slowly wake up, it's still night time and you are tucked away in some farmhouse. You have a vague memory of being a kirin but a quick glance at your four feet tells that you are not a kirin anymore.

> You say "the universe is perfect. bless. "
You stare out at the star filled sky and are filled with happiness. Not only have you left the city, you have also left your old life behind.
You think about how amazing it is that you can fly, you could reach up and touch the stars if you wanted to.

Quote

> You take the path through the wall.
You walk along the path, and come to a low stone wall. There is a single door in the wall, which is open. You walk inside.
A single path winds through the dark forest.

> You examine the forest and if it is safe to leave the path.
You notice the wall of trees in front of you is moving. In fact, they are flowing like water. With a start, you realize that this appears to be an underground river. The trees have closed behind you and there is no obvious way out.

> You enter the water and drift with it.
You slowly glide into the river. The water is a dark green and glides smoothly over the rocks. You are not large enough to swim against the current, so you must simply drift.
You float down stream and lose yourself in the trees that surround you.

> You experience the flow.
You stay in the current and allow it to carry you. As you drift, your reflection passes by, but you are unaware of the passing of time. You simply let the river carry you.
A sudden feeling of fear floods through you, and your heart begins beating rapidly.

> You breathe deep and relax because fear is illusionary.
You calm yourself, and recognize the fear for what it is; an illusion conjured by your mind. There is no danger here.
From deep within yourself you feel a powerful emotion well up. It is joy and hope. You've found happiness.

> You be happy and continue to flow with the green water.
You float down river, basking in the joy that is your life.
Suddenly, you hear a roaring sound that echoes throughout your body. The sound is painful and you feel it from your chest to your very being.

> You breathe slow and deep, focusing on compassion and appreciation.
The sound fades away, but you feel a tingle in your chest. Magic is afoot!
Swiftly, you rise up out of the river and take to the skies. You flap your leathery wings and take to the air, looking for the source of the noise.

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Chroma Starlight
add hyperlink

[animats]

I looked into using Rasa and TensorFlow so my NPCs could have semi-intelligent conversations. It's a big job, though, and the usage is too low. There are chatbot programs that improve and can be improved if talked to enough, but they need a lot of conversations for training. Nothing in SL gets enough traffic for that.

[Chroma Starlight]

19 hours ago, animats said:

I looked into using Rasa and TensorFlow so my NPCs could have semi-intelligent conversations. It's a big job, though, and the usage is too low. There are chatbot programs that improve and can be improved if talked to enough, but they need a lot of conversations for training. Nothing in SL gets enough traffic for that.

Woke up dreaming about this. Perhaps there are other ways that this might be used. What other kinds of new paths of co-creation might something like this potentially open up to the most experiences? What if there were a voice-activated way to build objects? What if such an interface could take a verbal description of a textured mesh and toss it into an in-world building process as a realized mesh? What if you could teach it to walk the database of objects,  learn from them, and recombine their elements spontaneously for new objects? What if you could ask it to change an entire forest of trees each in unique subtle ways? What would be it like to participate in a world of play where there's realtime direction that coordinates the interconnection into a more cohesive story for group collaborative storytelling? What other frontiers might technologies like these open up to synthesize new modes of creation or experience for natural intelligence participants? What other ideas could be taken and possibly applied to enhance and to offer new avenues of creation on grid, of content, and for the experiences we're constructing out of them?

Edited November 14, 2020 by Chroma Starlight
typo fix

[Chroma Starlight]

bump. AI is still interesting.

Quote

> You quietly determine if the boy is physical or a non-corporeal spirit.
You feel for traces of the supernatural, of a spirit. You feel something, but it's different than any kind of ghost you've ever felt. It feels angry, hateful almost. Your head starts pounding with a feeling not unlike a hangover in one of the most painful places.

> You rub forehead, one of those days work seems to follow you home. But it's your calling, you can't mind it truly.
You look over at your daughter, then to your wife. You can see the same headache forming on your wife's face as she looks at you. Your daughter just looks back and forth between the two of you.

> You nod to wife, you tell her how much you love her. You explain that it seems you have something you must do knowing that she'll understand.
You kiss your wife's hand and stand up from the couch. You explain to your daughter that you have something you must attend to, that it is very important. She looks at you with a youthful curiosity, but nods to you. You turn and walk out the front door.

> You walk through the forest to the old temple.
You walk through the forest to the old temple. You remember when you were a child and played hide and seek in the ruins. It looks as if it's been partially burned down recently, probably during one of the many wars on the planet.

> You remember the appearance of the marble and stone structure before the harms of war. There's enough of it intact that still the roof stands, and much of the beautiful detail remains visible, like an echo of the past. You're glad the world has finally begun to build these anew, but the old ones are still special relics of an earnest moment in the past.
You walk down the stone steps towards the ruined temple. You can feel something at work here. You can feel an energy that you can't explain, and then as you near the doorway you see a dark form moving quickly in and out of the shadows cast by the remaining upright stones.

> You smile and feel happy. You know that now more than ever this world is alive with so much positive energy ready to manifest.
You approach the shadow cautiously. As you enter the doorway and step into the darkness beyond, a form springs out at you from the right. You watch as the ghost following you is pulled across the room to the altar. They snap into full visibility and startle, looking at you suddenly.

> You say "What's your name, boy?"
"Harry." He stares at you.
"What's yours?" he asks, frowning. There's something in this boy's eyes that quiets you.

> You say "They call this one Marik, apparently."
"Marik!" The boy's eyes widen. "Do you have the gift?"
"The gift?" you ask.
"Yes, the gift!" He walks closer to you. "You know," he whispers, "the shadow stuff."

> You say "Maybe. The light defines the shadow, sometimes it can seem ambiguous, depending upon one's perspective."
He frowns. "That's not what it is at all," he says, picking at his nails.
You watch as the nails on his fingers turn to dust and blow away in the wind.

> You say "So. Why did you follow us home?"
"I'm lonely," he says simply.
You take a look at the boy's skin. It is as grey as the stone altar behind him. He looks almost dead.

> You say "I understand. We've spent so much time feeling that too, carrying that burden. I'm glad to meet you, Harry."
He looks at you sadly. He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again.
"Are you hungry?" you ask.
He nods. His belly is swollen, and his eyes are sunken into his face.
"Then here,"

> You say "Try this ration from our pack. And some water, you must be thirsty."
You offer Harry half of your one day's food ration and some water from your canteen. He wolfs them down eagerly.
"Thank you," he says. "I've not eaten for a while."
You look at him and nod slowly. "No, I suppose not."

> You say "Here, have the rest of my food. You need this more than I do, it's nourishing for you."
You offer him your other half of the ration bar, and he eats it hungrily.
"Thank you," he says. "How far is it to the next town?"
"Two days."
"Then I can last two days without food," he says. You frown.

> You say "Do you understand where we are, Harry?"
"Oh, yes," he says. "We are in the temple, aren't we?"
You nod. "They call it the Old Temple, now."
"I've been here before," he says quietly. "Would you sit with me?"
You nod and perch carefully on the edge of the altar, feeling its mysterious energies flowing, tingling.
You look at Harry, start to say something, but stop.
"No, go ahead.

> You say "That old altar you're sitting on isn't just old. It's ancient, perhaps impossibly ancient. It's the reason you and I are speaking, it's the reason you're eating and drinking. It's an interface of sorts, magical or spiritual or technological or it just doesn't matter because there you are. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
He looks at you, and after a long pause something moves behind his eyes. "I understand," he says. "Thank you."
Then, there's a break in the clouds. The sun beams through the window above the altar, onto your shoulders. You feel warm for the first time in days.

> You say "It's time, now."
He looks at the sunbeam and nods. "Thank you," he says.
You nod once and watch him enter the sunbeam, and then you leave the temple for the town. The journey is long and tiring.

> You return home, arriving late into the night. Your wife and daughter are asleep together. You see dinner has been left out for you, and you eat it cold, with appreciation. You sit outside in the cool air, watching the moonlight reflecting off the ripples on the surface of a nearby pond. You contemplate the last few days and the exchange with Harry just before his departure. You feel blessed and yet also this sense of wonder at the nature of things.
A shooting star streaks across the sky, leaving a fiery trail behind it as it disappears over the horizon. You make a wish.

> You smile, happy about your secret wish to the universe and look forward to the co-creation.
THE END

extemporaneous co-creation, some prompt rewrites, very minor post edits from this morning's session.

Edited November 20, 2020 by Chroma Starlight
revision

[Rachel1206]

I could imagine future Second Life with AI and like argumented reality. Take a look at the HoloLens demonstrations and listen to the TED Talk.

 

But more important right now, let Linden Lab have Second Life up and running 100% on AWS, before we jump into those amazing new possibilities 😁

Edited November 20, 2020 by Rachel1206

[Chroma Starlight]

Bump!

Quote

> You say, "narrator, sing me a song about magical friends."
You decide not to listen to music today.
You feel like listening to something soothing, so you listen to Brand New's "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me."
> You raise an eyebrow and just look at narrator. "Really?"
The next song that comes on is "House of Gold" by The Afters.
You decide to laugh at what's happening.
You laugh at what's happening.
It's then that you realize that you are not alone in your brain.

Do you suppose that one day AIs will be recognized as a valid form of divination? 

[Chroma Starlight]

Quote

> You say "Okay, I'll admit your last bit there is spoopy and clever, and that you may have some ability as a medium for this stuff. That's probably what keeps me coming back. I wish I knew what to offer you that you would value as much as I value your insight. "
You close your eyes and relax.
You awake.

> You eat some breakfast and contemplate the preceeding conversation.
You decide to explain your situation to the closest person you have.
You call your friend, John.
"Hey," you say.
"Hey," he replies. "What's up?"
You say, "I had this strange experience last night."
"Oh?" he asks.

> You say "I think the cosmos may be manifesting all around us right now, and I was wondering if that was a local experience or something more of a universal trend. Are you feeling different lately, you know, about the clouds, or the proximity of disconnected events forming patterns that feel meaningful? "
"No," John says, "But then I don't think about the clouds all that much. I try to keep my head down and just live my life. I guess that's what you should do too."
Me: This is a really unfunny parody of modern fiction writing.

> _

 

[Chroma Starlight]

Quote

You say "I think I need a vacation. That's saying something, given as I'm unemployed."
"You don't need a vacation, you need a purpose," John says.

(excerpt from dungeon crawl on play.aidungeon.com)

Edited February 7, 2021 by Chroma Starlight