The world of AI is coming to you quicker than you think.
It is no longer a far off sci-fi premise that robots with independant thoughts will soon roam our landscapes, sometimes up to all sorts of mischief.

The future is coming, and fast. Computer power and function is increasing at an incredible rate, and the future is becoming quickly blended into the present. What is real and what is not? This question in itself poses a whole new question. What does REAL actually mean?
This line is becoming increasingly blurred, and in that sense the digital world is actually taking on a life of it's own.

Does this mean that at some point we need to start thinking about their rights too?
The following youtbue clip is a fascinating look into a new programme developed called Project Natal, where an onscreen character can interact with you in real time using webcams, scanners, and voice recognition software.

Kinect for Xbox 360, codenamed Project Natal, is a huge leap for compter gaming developed for the Xbox 360, freeing up the user from traditional forms of interface such as a controller, keyboard or joystick. It allows for direct communication with a computer based character.
It is set for release any day now, and is apparently only going to cost US$150.

On another related note, on the news the other night they had an artticle about new AI robots being trialed in care facilities for the aged (how Politically correct of me). These robots are designed to take up the slack of an increase in an aging population needed specialised care, and a steady decline in government funding for these care facilities, leading to a problem of retaining quality staff.
The solution, get all of these robots on the job to do the more mundane tasks, so what little humans hours they have available, are spent doing other things. WTF!