Human
magicians rarely give up the secrets to their illusions, but details of
the computer’s tricks were published in the journal Frontiers in
Psychology.
The puzzle the AI created is now on sale in a London magic shop, while the card trick is available as an Android app called Phoney.
The
magic jigsaw trick involves assembling a jigsaw to show a series
shapes, then taking it apart and reassembling it so that certain shapes
have disappeared using a geometric principle.
To
create a trick like this, the computer had to consider several factors
simultaneously, such as the size of the puzzle, the number of pieces
involved, the number of shapes that appear and disappear and the ways
that the puzzle can be arranged.
‘Something
this complex is ideal for an algorithm to process, and make decisions
about which flexible factors are most important,’ the researchers added.
A
second 'mind-reading' trick created by the machine involves arranging a
deck of playing cards in a specific way around a smartphone with one
person asked to pick out a card.
The phone, running an Android app created for the trick, can reveal the chosen card on its screen.
It
works because the algorithm arranges the decks in such a way that a
specific card can be identified with the least amount of information
possible.
The
program identifies arrangements for the deck that, on average, required
one fewer question to be asked before the card was found than with the
traditional method.
And it means that the person performing the trick doesn’t have to remember the order of the cards.
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