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Artificial intelligence

ChatGPT tells robots what to do

People with no programming experience could use AI to command robots for them
Matthew Sparkes

MICROSOFT says it has used world to help with robotics tasks”. comment, but Microsoft said in analysis”, but experts warn that
the natural language AI ChatGPT Robots are typically controlled its blog post that ChatGPT allows it is risky to even begin thinking
to control a range of robots by software that has been written a user to give a robot instructions about placing AI in control of
with simple text commands. by humans and sets out precise and then either review the code physical machines.
The approach means people instructions, or else by some it outputs to check for errors or Mark Coeckelbergh at the
with no engineering or coding form of relatively simple neural watch a simulated robot executing University of Vienna, Austria, says
experience will be able to instruct network AI that can learn to carry them. The user can then give that regulations may be needed
sophisticated robots to carry out tasks based on large numbers feedback if needed. in order to set out where AI can
out tasks. of examples. ChatGPT isn’t in direct, real- be used and who is responsible
ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, Neither Microsoft nor OpenAI time control of the robot, but should things go wrong.
a company that is itself partly responded to a request for simply creates the code that “It’s a very dangerous thing
owned by Microsoft. The chatbot controls it. Microsoft said in its to just say ‘let’s give control of
was trained on a vast amount Robot arms similar to these blog post that ChatGPT output these computers to AI’,” says
of data, including source code. ones can be controlled by shouldn’t be deployed directly Coeckelbergh. “The problem
It has previously demonstrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT onto a robot without “careful with contemporary artificial
the ability to write software based intelligence is that it’s not
on text prompts and even to fix transparent to the user. That’s
errors in existing code. a huge problem.”
Microsoft has now used the Others were sceptical about
AI to take text commands from the ability of language models
humans and interpret them into to program robots for complex
code that can control robots tasks. Kathleen Richardson at
directly. In one test, ChatGPT De Montfort University Leicester,
wrote code to instruct a robotic UK, says that AI language models
arm to create a Microsoft logo are convincing mimics, but that
from wooden blocks. In another, their real ability – including their
it steered a drone to reach a point adaptability to control robots – is
while avoiding obstacles. often overblown.
MATT CROSSICK/ALAMY

Microsoft said in a blog post “I think Microsoft, and most

that the research was intended “to people who design robots, over-
see if ChatGPT can think beyond inflate what they can and can’t
text, and reason about the physical do,” she says. ❚

Evolution

Influenza viruses
may have originated
in ancient fish
A FLU virus found in a sturgeon
hints that influenza viruses began
in fish around 600 million years
ago and evolved with their hosts to
infect a wide range of species today.
Influenza viruses cause illness
in many vertebrates, including
humans, birds, cats, whales
and dolphins, but little is known
about how they first evolved.
In 2018, researchers identified
an influenza virus from a hagfish.
By making a genetic family tree,
they found that the hagfish virus
resembled the ancestral form
of influenza, suggesting that these
viruses may have arisen in fish.
Influenza viruses have since been
found in other fish, but it still isn’t
clear whether they replicate in living
fish, how they are transmitted and
how the infection affects the fish.
Now, Mary Petrone at the
University of Sydney and her
colleagues have found more
evidence that influenza viruses
first evolved in fish. To do this, they
searched genetic data from fish for
sequences similar to the previously
identified hagfish-associated flu
virus. In particular, they looked for
a gene encoding a crucial protein
for replicating the virus’s genome.
This revealed an influenza virus
that was 25 per cent genetically
similar to the hagfish-associated
virus, discovered in the intestine
of a sturgeon from a fish farm in
China (bioRxiv, doi.org/jzf9).
By comparing the genetic
sequences of all known influenza
“Understanding the
evolution of the flu virus
could help with detecting
the next pandemic”
viruses, the team found that the
sturgeon virus looks highly similar
to what the ancestral form is thought
to have looked like, says Petrone.
“Understanding the evolution
of the flu virus is really important
because it could give new insights
into its ability to jump between
hosts, and help with detecting
the next virus with pandemic
potential,” she says.
“The study provides compelling
evidence that influenza viruses
have an aquatic origin,” says
Robert Gifford at the University
of Glasgow, UK.  ❚
Carissa Wong

16 | New Scientist | 11 March 2023