Video games of the future could have characters with almost human intelligence, capable of understanding and acting on your commands.
Scientists from King’s College in London have created a technology called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which emulates the functions of the brain’s frontal lobes, where humans process language and emotion.

At the moment, the LAD prototype has the learning ability of an 18-month old child. Professor John Taylor and his team are confident it could have the intelligence of six-year-old child by the end of next year.

The system works by using neural networks to mimic brain function. It then learns language as children do, not through rules and vocabularies, but through association and example.

Taylor sees potential uses for the technology in areas such as disability learning, home automation, data retrieval and gaming.