Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence could come from the brains of bees

Brain bees According to British scientists, this can help bring artificial intelligence systems to a new level.

A team from the University of Sheffield has conducted a study that it says reveals the underlying mechanisms that govern creatures’ “remarkable” decision-making abilities, which could be transferred to artificial intelligence technologies, reports the BBC.

Using 20 honey bees, the team ran several tests to study how the flying insect decides which flowers to examine for nectar, focusing on the speed and accuracy of its decisions to accept and reject different flowers.

The creatures were followed with a camera to see how long it took them to decide which flower to fly to. The results showed that they wasted no time heading straight for the flowers they thought were supposed to contain food, landing there in an average of 0.6 seconds, but they just as quickly pushed away the flowers they thought did not contain food.

The team then created a computer model designed to replicate the decision-making process of honey bees. “This approach provided insight into how a small brain could make such complex choices on the fly and what kind of neural circuitry would be required,” the group’s research paper says, adding that the complexity of decision-making processes with what has been reported for primates.”

Now technology developers must consider how the results can be adapted to improve the design of their AI-based creations, and the scientists suggest that the results can be used “to develop better decision-making algorithms for artificial systems and especially for autonomous robotics.”

Study leader Dr Hadi MaBoudi said the research could be used to create “better, more robust, risk-averse robots and autonomous machines that can think like bees, some of the most efficient navigators in the natural world.”