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"The virtual world provides the body," said Dr Ben Goertzel, founder and head of Novamente.

"We have a pretty fully functioning animal brain right now and we are hooking it up to the different virtual worlds,"

"I'd really like to do virtual talking parrots," he said, "and then virtual babies.

Researchers at Osaka University are stepping up efforts to develop robotic body parts controlled by thought, by placing electrode sheets directly on the surface of the brain.

A virtual child controlled by artificially intelligent software has passed a cognitive test regarded as a major milestone in human development. It could lead to smarter computer games able to predict human players' state of mind. Children typically master the "false belief test" at age 4 or 5. It tests their ability to realise that the beliefs of others can differ from their own, and from reality. The creators of the new character – which they called Eddie – say passing the test shows it can reason about the beliefs of others, using a rudimentary "theory of mind".

John Laird, a researcher in computer games and Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is not overly impressed. "It's not that challenging to get an AI system to do theory of mind," he says.

More impressive demonstration, says Laird, would be a character, initially unable to pass the test, that learned how to do so – just as humans do.