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William Shatner, Star Trek's Captain Kirk, Takes on an AI Chatbot

Star Trek actor William Shatner, 90, speaks to the news media after his flight with three others in a capsule powered by Blue Origin's reusable rocket engine New Shepard on a landing pad near Van Horn, Texas, US, October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Star Trek actor William Shatner, 90, speaks to the news media after his flight with three others in a capsule powered by Blue Origin's reusable rocket engine New Shepard on a landing pad near Van Horn, Texas, US, October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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William Shatner, Star Trek's Captain Kirk, Takes on an AI Chatbot

Star Trek actor William Shatner, 90, speaks to the news media after his flight with three others in a capsule powered by Blue Origin's reusable rocket engine New Shepard on a landing pad near Van Horn, Texas, US, October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Star Trek actor William Shatner, 90, speaks to the news media after his flight with three others in a capsule powered by Blue Origin's reusable rocket engine New Shepard on a landing pad near Van Horn, Texas, US, October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Legendary "Star Trek" actor William Shatner has been spending time exploring the new frontier of artificial intelligence.
The actor best known for playing Captain Kirk on "Star Trek" talked with ProtoBot, a device that combines holographic visuals with conversational AI, and grappled with philosophical and ethical questions about the technology.
"I'm asking ProtoBot questions that ordinarily a computer doesn't answer," Shatner told Reuters. "A computer answers two plus two, but does ProtoBot know what love is? Can ProtoBot understand sentience? Can they understand emotion? Can they understand fear?"
The ProtoBot device was developed by hologram technology provider Proto Inc with conversational AI developer CodeBaby. It will be released on Sept. 8 and available free to owners of Proto M or Proto Epic hologram units.
The smaller Proto M unit costs around $6,500 while the life-size Proto Epic sells for $65,000. Proto intends to release a cheaper model for consumers in the next 18 months.
Shatner is a paid adviser for Proto.
Raffi Kryszek, the principal AI architect and head of innovation at Proto Hologram, said the device was designed to learn from conversations but it can only create something when prompted to do so.
"It shouldn't just think about it on its own," he said.
Lawmakers around the world are racing to put safeguards around the use of AI as the technology rapidly evolves.
Proto hopes its device will be used by educators, scientists and businesses to come up with new ideas, or for medical diagnostics, advice or just companionship.
"We're in a crossroads everywhere," Shatner said. "We're going to burn up or we're going to exceed all expectations and this is part of the crossroads. This will help us decide the current way to move on or it will defeat us. We're at a really interesting time in history."

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British Actor Maggie Smith Dies Aged 89

Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of the film, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", at Leicester Square, London February 17, 2015. (Reuters)
Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of the film, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", at Leicester Square, London February 17, 2015. (Reuters)
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British Actor Maggie Smith Dies Aged 89

Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of the film, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", at Leicester Square, London February 17, 2015. (Reuters)
Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of the film, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", at Leicester Square, London February 17, 2015. (Reuters)

Britain's Maggie Smith, one of the most acclaimed actors of her generation with a career ranging from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, has died aged 89, her family said on Friday.

Smith was one of a select few to win the treble of an Oscar, Emmy and Tony during seven decades on stage and screen, becoming a star known for her sharp intelligence and waspish wit.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Smith "introduced us to new worlds with the countless stories she acted over her long career".

"She was beloved by so many for her great talent, becoming a true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come," he said.

After starting on stage in the 1950s, Smith became a fixture at Britain's new National Theatre in the 1960s, working alongside Laurence Olivier, before winning her first Oscar at the end of the decade.

But for many younger fans in the 21st century, she was best-known as Professor McGonagall in all seven "Harry Potter" movies, and the Dowager Countess in the hit TV series "Downton Abbey," a role that seemed tailor-made for an actor known for purse-lipped asides and malicious cracks.

She died in hospital in London early on Friday, her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said.

"An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end," they said in a statement.

Smith's first Academy Award nomination was for her turn playing Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier's "Othello" in 1965, before winning the Oscar for her role as an Edinburgh schoolmistress in 1969's "“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."

She won her second Oscar for her supporting role in the 1978 comedy "“California Suite".

Other critically acclaimed roles included Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's “"The Importance of Being Earnest" on the West End stage, a 92-year-old bitterly fighting senility in Edward Albee's play "“Three Tall Women," and her part in 2001 black comedy movie "Gosford Park."

In 1990 Smith was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and became a Dame.