In the eye of the swarm

The Economist has a great article on how computer models of how bees, ants and birds operated in swarms, are being deployed as 'artificial intelligence' systems to solve previously unassailable problems.

To be honest, the premise of the piece is a little too grand to be plausible: the introductory paragraph announces "The search for artificial intelligence modelled on human brains has been a dismal failure. AI based on ant behaviour, though, is having some success."

This is really not true, as ...