Extraterrestrial

Scientists propose sending an AI into space to converse with aliens

By T.K. Randall
August 4, 2024

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) For decades, humanity has been sending messages out into the cosmos in an effort to attract the attention of any advanced alien civilizations who might be listening.

These messages typically contain anything from a basic greeting to fundamental information about our science, culture and history, but what if there was a way to send something a bit more complex ?

In a recent article for Scientific American, SETI's Franck Marchis and NASA's Ignacio G. Lopez-Francos put forward the idea of sending an artificial intelligence instead of a static message to act as an interactive representative of our species.

Such an AI could have a two-way conversation with an alien civilization while answering any questions that they might have about us.

It could also help to preserve our culture and history should a disaster befall us here on Earth.In the article, the scientists describe selecting an appropriate "well-curated large language model that encapsulates the diverse essence of humanity and the world we live in."

There are certainly a few issues with the idea, including finding a way to transmit something this complex into deep space and the possibility that any potential recipients would be unable to actually compile it into a usable form.

Still, it represents a novel approach to contacting aliens and does beg the question - what if aliens have the same idea ?

Could our first contact with ET be an alien AI that visits the Earth ?

Who knows, perhaps something like this is actually already here...

Source: Scientific American

Tags: Alien, AI