Due largely to current technological developments which have thrust synthetic intelligence into the highlight, there was a surge in alarmism fueling considerations and elevating questions on its potential influence on society. Critics argue that AI might result in widespread job displacement, privateness invasions, and even existential threats to humanity.

However for these of us within the know, we acknowledge that the generative AI instruments which have triggered some considerations currently will most actually not result in the destruction of humanity. As revealed within the first Terminator film, ought to machines try to destroy us, they are going to be powered by the MOS Know-how 6502 processor that was included in quite a few computer systems and gaming consoles within the Nineteen Eighties. And that doesn’t seem like it’s going to occur any time quickly. Not solely are 6502-based machines severely resource-constrained, however they’re additionally missing in choices for sensing the world round them. The T-800 can not terminate you if it can not discover you.

Nicely, that was the glad world we lived in till a couple of days in the past not less than. However Cameron Kaiser has determined to tempt destiny and give imaginative and prescient to his Commodore 128 pc. The Commodore 128 is powered by a MOS Know-how 8502 CPU, which is a minor variant of the 6502. Getting nervous but?

That is truly not a wholly new concept. A business product produced by Digital Imaginative and prescient known as ComputerEyes existed within the mid-Nineteen Eighties that allowed computer systems such because the Commodore 64 and Apple II to accumulate pictures from a composite video supply. However, this gadget had some points — particularly, it took from 6 to 50 seconds to seize a single body (relying on picture high quality), and the pc’s show must flip off through the seize. For causes comparable to these, ComputerEyes was a really poor selection for a real-time video streaming system.

However it’s this restricted system that Kaiser selected to make use of to construct an virtually real-time video seize gadget. He discovered that by utilizing a Commodore 128 and making a couple of tweaks, he might overcome the unique limitations of ComputerEyes. Whereas the ComputerEyes software program doesn’t run on a Commodore 128, the machine does have a Commodore 64 mode for compatibility.

The rationale that the show should be turned off on a Commodore 64 is that the video chip, the VIC-II, periodically halts the CPU to take management of the bus and do some work of its personal. That is dangerous information for the picture seize course of, which requires strict synchronization, and results in distortions.

However the Commodore 128 has a second video chip, the VDC, which remains to be accessible even in Commodore 64 compatibility mode. It’s usually used for an 80 column textual content mode, however will be coerced into producing a 320 x 200 pixel bitmapped show very similar to the VIC-II. And crucially, the VDC can show a picture with out interfering with the CPU, so processing of ComputerEyes picture captures won’t be distorted by interrupt delays.

That acquired Kaiser midway to the objective, however the picture captures have been nonetheless simply as sluggish as ever. Analyzing the acquisition supply code (which Digital Imaginative and prescient truly supplied with the gadget), Kaiser discovered that it pauses for lengthy stretches between body grabs, ready for as much as 85 vertical syncs to occur between each. What if the software program waited for just one vertical sync? That’s precisely what Kaiser tried. And it did work — not completely, the primary 10% of the picture was misplaced, however it was significantly quicker. Sacrificing that portion of the picture sped up the seize course of by about 24%, which for a lot of use instances is an inexpensive trade-off.

Kaiser could have pulled off practically real-time video seize on a 6502 CPU variant, however not less than these computer systems can not do any machine studying, so humanity must be protected, proper? Or is it?