{"id":16738,"date":"2021-01-27T08:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T08:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/?p=16738"},"modified":"2023-11-06T17:23:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T16:23:24","slug":"zinatnieki-teste-virtualos-psihedelikus-uz-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/blog\/scientists-test-virtual-psychedelics-on-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Zin\u0101tnieki izm\u0113\u0123ina virtu\u0101l\u0101s psihed\u0113lisk\u0101s vielas ar m\u0101ksl\u012bgo intelektu."},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how <\/em>are psychedelics able to do that?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Yep, there\u2019s still a lot to learn about hallucinations<\/strong>, period. And testing psychedelics on humans to find the answers can be tricky, both legally and ethically. Lots of grey areas! But what if, at least for testing purposes, something can replace the human brain..?<\/p>\n

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Scientists from the University of Geneva<\/strong> and Imperial College London<\/strong> have begun to use artificial intelligence<\/strong> (or AI) as a \u201cguinea pig\u201d<\/em> to test virtual psychedelics. And with any luck, they might even tap into the \u201csource code\u201d<\/em> of the psychedelic experience, using a near-perfect replica of your mind.<\/p>\n

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Deep Neural Network <\/em><\/h2>\n

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A.I. can used for machine learning, such as facial recognition and the \u201cdeep fake\u201d imagery (or hyper-realistic copies of human faces)<\/em> that has colonised the internet. All thanks to a technological feat called a deep neural network<\/strong>. You could say it\u2019s an artificial brain<\/strong>, but equipped with more links for \u201cthinking\u201d than humans.<\/p>\n

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Michael Schartner<\/strong>, a neuroscientist at the International Brain Laboratory in Lisbon, says that AI may show how psychedelics alter consciousness.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBrains contain an internal model of the world which is constantly updated via sensory information, and some parts of this model are consciously perceived (i.e. experienced).<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"glowing
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf this process of model-updating is [upset] – e.g. via psychedelics – the internal model can go off the rails.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe process of [making] \u2018natural\u2019 images with deep neural networks can be [upset] in visually similar ways, and may offer mechanistic insights into its biological counterpart\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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So, a deep neural network can \u201csense\u201d things the way a human brain does \u2014 at least when it comes to recognizing, or even \u201cinventing\u201d, faces. But why stop there? What if you spiked the robotic Kool-Aid with some tasty digital hallucinogens<\/strong>\u2026?<\/p>\n

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Digital Drugs <\/em><\/h2>\n

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Of course, before they could test psychedelics on AI, they had to create a virtual version of a drug. Which in this case is digital DMT<\/strong>. Mainly because its effects are short (5 to 20 minutes), and its artificial version has been likened to its natural counterpart,\u00a0ayahuasca<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Using deep neural networks, they mimicked the patterns of real DMT. This digital version was then given for the AI host to \u201ceat\u201d. What happens next can be read in a paper at Neuroscience of Consciousness<\/a><\/strong>, co-authored by Schartner and Christopher Timmermann<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"DMT
DMT Visuals via Wikimedia Commons<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the AI ate the digital DMT, it began to show signs of tripping out<\/strong>. For instance, an image of a (non-existent) <\/em>woman that it saw in its brain, quickly became \u201cnoisy\u201d and distorted. Trippy,<\/em> indeed!<\/p>\n

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Decoding Hallucinations <\/em><\/h2>\n

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This is one step closer to decoding hallucinations (and the psychedelic experience, as a whole)<\/em> in a way that can be measured by raw numbers. Future studies will use A.I. to map out other psychedelic experiences, like out-of-body sensations<\/strong>, for example.<\/p>\n

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\u201c[It\u2019s] still far from clear,\u201d<\/em> said Schartner. \u201cThe ventral visual stream in human brains seems key for visual experiences, but is certainly not sufficient.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cAlso, the exact role of serotonin in the gating of sensory information is still to be explained.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Schartner is, of course, referring to the serotonin receptors<\/strong> in the brain. These guys take signals from converted psychedelic compounds (like psilocin<\/strong>)<\/em>, and trigger a hallucination.<\/p>\n

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It still doesn\u2019t explain why our consciousness is altered, though. But with this nifty new application of AI, we might be able to get answers real soon.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Tool for Psychedelic Research <\/em><\/h2>\n

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There are benefits to using A.I. as a tool in psychedelic research. By replacing human brains with AI, scientists are able to escape strict drug laws<\/strong> which often restrict their progress, in the name of \u201cpublic safety\u201d. At least for now, anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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(Y’see human testing is always the last step for a new drug to be approved.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Says Schartner:<\/p>\n

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\u201cPsychedelics are not only an important tool for fundamental research about the mind-body problem. They also showed promising results in the treatment of depression and anxiety.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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If Schartner can prove that deep neural networks <\/strong>can test specific drugs, then maybe our lawmakers will be less wary of psychedelics…<\/p>\n

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No-one<\/em> will be a guinea pig at Phase I trials if artificial intelligence<\/strong> is the test subject. Ineffective meds can be tossed right away\u2026 and only the effective ones can move on to Phase II & III with human subjects.<\/p>\n

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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? <\/em><\/h2>\n

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Artificial intelligence is a tool that raises more questions than answers. Would you believe that neuromorphic chips<\/strong> have more in common with human brains, than with laptops?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"neuromorphic
via Wikimedia Commons<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n

We need not worry about a robot apocalypse<\/em> just yet. Deep neural networks are still quite new. Also, if A.I. is steered in the right direction \u2014 such as research for psychedelic-based therapy<\/a> \u2014 then we may prove these sci-fi horror flicks wrong just yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Says Schartner:<\/p>\n

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\u201cDeep neural networks – the workhorse of many impressive engineering feats of machine learning – are the state-of-the-art model for parts of the visual system in humans.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThey can help illustrate how psychedelics [change] perception.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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What do you think? Will AI manage to mimic the entire<\/em> psychedelic experience? And where does that leave us, flesh-and-blood psychonauts?<\/p>\n

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Share your thoughts down below!<\/p>\n

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Ever wonder why psychedelics like magic truffles, DMT, and LSD affect the brain the way that they do? Why we see the sights, feel the feels, and blast off into our own personal utopia? It’s taken as given, that simply by chowing down on some shrooms, we can explore places we’ve never dreamed of before.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-16738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16738"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160369,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738\/revisions\/160369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16738"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=16738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}