Embodiment: Does a laptop have a body? Pei Wang Temple University Philadelphia, USA

Embodiment Different interpretations: Give the system a body Give the system a human-like body Let the system behave according to its experience Let the system behave according to its sensorimotor experience

Body and experience As far as a system is implemented, it has a body As far as a system interacts with its environment, it has sensors and actuators “Experience” is the stream of input information, that stretches in time Experience depends on body

Disembodiment A laptop has a body, as well as experience Its experience comes through some sensorimotor device, though may be described abstractly Disembodiment of traditional symbolic AI comes from over-idealizing environment and ignoring experience

Experience-grounded Open to unexpected and uncertain experience, and respond in real-time Decide the meaning of a symbol by its experienced relations with other things Decide the truth-value of a statement by the evidence collected from experience Decide the solution to a problem according to available knowledge

Difference in experience Human-like experience is necessary for human-like behavior, though not for intelligence in general “Intelligence” is not defined by behavior, but by experience-behavior relationship Though there are practical reasons to simulate human experience, an AI can have non-human experience (and therefore, non-human behavior)

Conclusions “Embodiment” is necessary for AI when it is interpreted as “experience-grounded” Whether a system is “embodied” is not determined by its body, but by its design principle To simulate human sensorimotor experience has important values, but is not necessary for every AI system