Humanity has been searching for extraterrestrial life for decades and trying to communicate with potentially advanced civilizations beyond the stars. So far, the SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) and METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence) have been unsuccessful at finding intelligent life in the universe.
Still, we’re in the early days, and our efforts will ramp up as soon as new technological advances permit. It’s not just about reaching planets where alien civilizations might thrive with the help of spaceships. It’s also about communicating at massive distances using highly advanced methods.
With the dawn of generative AI products like ChatGPT, two scientists propose using AI language models to talk to alien civilizations. To get the custom AI models to the alien civilizations, we’d have to develop new communication methods, like powerful lasers, to beam the data into space.
SETI Institute astronomer Franch Marchis and NASA researcher Ignacio G. Lopez-Francois penned a proposal in Scientific American (via Futurism) on using AI models to contact alien civilizations.
The idea here is that a customized AI model would allow the alien to learn more about our civilization and planet, after first decoding and understanding said AI.
“This is a radical and potentially risky idea because unfriendly aliens could misuse this information,” the scientists say. “Nevertheless, it’s a discussion worth starting, given recent discoveries.”
The problem with current AI models is that they’re not perfectly reliable. They can hallucinate information. You can’t just send a version of ChatGPT out into space and then rely on it to transmit correct information about our species to aliens. Also, the large language models we use on Earth require lots of resources and storage space.
Instead, Marchis and Lopes-Francois propose using smaller, open-source language models. Meta’s Llama-3-70B and Mistral AI’s Mixtral 8x22B could work, provided they’re trained for this specific task. They’d have to contain general knowledge about humanity and answer questions about it.
The data requirements are a problem. Llama-3-70B measures 130GB in size. The scientists propose using a technique called quantization to reduce the size of the AI to just a few gigabytes. Also, the AI would have to run on its own, without access to the internet.
The researchers propose using current communication methods to beam the ChatGPT-like AI to alien civilizations. One involves radio communication. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can transmit data at up to 100 Mbps.
The full-size Llama-3-70B model would reach the Moon in half an hour. The second is using a laser. The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration can reach speeds of 622 Mbps. The same AI model would need just five minutes to reach the Moon.
However, we’d need to send the AI well beyond the Moon. The researchers say that current interstellar communication technology speed would drop to 100 bits per second. Our AI would need hundreds of years to reach Alpha Centaury. That’s the closest star system to ours that lies some four light-years away from Earth. A smaller model would take only 20 years.
But if we were to use more powerful lasers to increase the speed of communications, we could send AI even farther and faster. The researchers mention a few ideas to get the job done. It might involve combining multiple 10KW lasers to reach a 100GW transmitter. Using the sun as a gravitational lens to amplify the signal could help.
We could also pack the AI into the computer aboard one of the probes or spaceships we routinely send into space and wait for aliens to discover it.
Neither scenario ensures success. While our galaxy might contain some 300 million planets similar to Earth, and some of them might support advanced alien life, we’d have no idea where to send the information. We’d have to take lots of shots in the dark. Also, it’s unclear how long it’ll take for those aliens to actually get the AI signal and respond.
That said, using AI to beam rich information about our planet to alien civilizations is an idea worth developing. If we ever get to do that, the people who will train the AI that talks to aliens better ensure it doesn’t contain any glue-on-pizza recipes.
Finally, if this idea sounds a lot like what’s happening in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, well, you’re not the only one who thinks so. We’d also have to be prepared for whatever may come our way after first contact.
Sci-fi TV shows aside, remember that aliens might be trying to contact us themselves. Some species might even be exploring ideas similar to the ones we are.
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