When can I go to Westworld?
A (spoiler-free) look at the feasibility of a real-world AI theme park.
Attention: NO SPOILERS. No spoilers, fan theories, guidelines on who I think is cuter (it’s Yul Brynner), or anything related to the plot of the current show. Now that that’s out of the way, you can read on wherever you are in the series. If you want a more in depth episode-by-episode and what it means to you as a human, definitely check out some of Danielle’s articles on Westworld.
What I’ll be talking about is plausibility of the technology and just how far we are from being able to visit. Also maybe my infatuation with the man-god Yul Brynner.
There’s also a time-limit on this; you have to get the theme park before AI happens.
It’s kind of a stepping stone on the way there, and consciousness might get in the way of a good time. For that, we have Ray Kurzweil’s prediction of 2045 for the Technological Singularity. This would be the moment AI is born, which kind of makes the whole theme-park thing irrelevant.
In case you’re not familiar with the show or movie, the plot centers around this cool theme park where you can go live like it’s the Wild West. The “people” running around break into 2 groups; the visitors and the hosts who are androids. It’s like NPCs in WOW, or for you non-nerds, non-player characters in one-of-the-biggest-wastes-of-time-ever-created.
The original came out nearly 45 years ago and is still relevant to the plausibility question. It also inspired a generation of Yul Brynner enthusiasts and I guess people who like to build robots. There are still some issues and hurdles that I’ll discuss later in terms of possibility, namely locomotion and human-machine interaction. I’ll also conveniently leave out any mention of how to power such things (love of Yul Brynner so far hasn’t panned out to be a stable enough power-source). But, given the past 40 years, are we any closer?
Short answer: Yes, but there are still some major hurdles revolving around interaction and locomotion. I’ll get more into those later, but for now, let’s look at Kingdom of the Robot. The concept is close without the West theme; a park in which every interaction with guests is done through robots. It’s currently under construction in Japan and guests looking for a sneak-peak can stay at the Hotel inside the future-park. While it’s not Yul Brynner (be still my heart), you can get checked in by a Velociraptor, have robot porters, and use your face to open the door.
If you aren’t familiar with the Japanese approach to robotics, it’s much more… humanoid than us in the West.
They. Love. Androids. There’s also a company who built a mech, but that’s just awesome. Imagine a walking tank you hop in and drive like a car. That’s a mech. The idea is pretty much the plot of every anime since the 80's.
This means we’re arguably to the point where the Hospitality Industry can get replaced by robotics. Like Westworld, I’m assuming there’s a human staff on hand to fix any problem bots behind the scenes, so still within our realm of possible.
That being said, what’s left? The last pieces are the hardest to get to (which is why no one has been able to do it yet). The major shortcomings in tech needed to make this happen are going to be the ability to hold a conversation and locomotion.
Let’s talk locomotion first, as it’s a bit easier to judge success and failure.
If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a lot of things on the planet that walk bipedally. It’s a short list consisting of humans, ostriches, and maybe bears if they’re chasing a balloon. This is because it’s something that’s hard to do. The physics is more like falling forward, and for now, robots are still working on the falling part. See below:
This was last year, from the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge. They had several tasks, of which 3 teams completed all 8. So it’s possible, but not production-ready. Maybe with the right market driver for the tech, it’s 10 years away, maybe 15 years if the Military develops it first.
As for conversation and human-machine interaction, that’s different a little more philosophical.
Conversation and speech was once thought as one of those things that makes us uniquely Human. Getting a robot to do the same is on-par with replicating consciousness. Since that’s a large ask, let’s go with the ability to hold a 5 minute conversation.This is a short-form Turing Test, which is a test posited by Alan Turing as a gauge for AI. It’s also arguably been accomplished, at least in terms of tricking a group of people they were talking to a child. There’s also the upcoming AI XPrize which closes out in 2020. This should result in a proof of collaboration between a human and a machine. Also, between chatbots and home assistants like the Alexa and Google Home, investors are backing the ability to talk to machines. Conversing with computers is going to be something a lot of us will be already used to by 2020.
Once we get both conversation and locomotion, then we’ve got a park. Between the two, let’s say 2030–2035 before your own trip to Westworld.
To get fully taken in, though, we’re going to have to get through the Uncanny Valley. Think of it as the difference between realistic and creepy-as-hell. That’s going to be the last 10% that will be the icing on a hopefully Yul Brynner filled cake.
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