AI
As a follow up to my previous blog about the ocean of information we live in
http://www.lofland.net/LoflandBLOG/2007/04/23/swim-dont-drink/
I wanted to mention AI. This is where artificial intelligence is going now. This is what we need it for. Currently we have many great tools for navigating the ocean of information. Google is one of those we think of first. Do many of you remember the days before Google? I used Alta Vista, which was set up by Digital to showcase how powerful their servers were. (Which makes the fact that Google has tended to use PC class equipment somewhat of an irony.) It did index the web, but that was about it. It was a real art to craft a search query that would get you what you wanted. Even then, it was hard to know if you got the “best” hits. Google revolutionized web searching. Now we don’t have home pages with lists of sites we found useful, some of us don’t even use bookmarks. We can count on Google to consistently find us good content.
Google is a hugely poor tool, though, considering how much information is out there. Consider these two questions:
Where can I find a florist in Oklahoma City?
If I buy a Garmin GPS receiver for my smartphone, and want to put maps of the Eastern half of the United States onto my smartphone’s SD card, how much space will it take?
The answers to both questions are contained in information alone. The answer to both questions are on the web. Google will answer one of them well, but not the other.
What we need from AI is not a computer to “think” for us, but for a computer to parse our human language and then use the ocean of information to bring answers. So while AI can never answer the question, “Which car will I enjoy driving the most?” (other than based on statistics), it will be able to answer, “How much fuel per month will I save driving a Miata versus driving a Subaru WRX?”
AI is not going to replace human creativity, but how much human time is wasted gathering answers from information? When AI can take over more and more of the jobs of gathering answers from information, then we can be more and more free to use our time on creative pursuits.
Posted 4/27/2007 2:01 PM
2 Comments:
I don’t have anything intelligent to add to this, but since you mention AI, there’s something that strikes me funny. Now that AI is no longer a buzzword we hear very much, it’s a successful tool we use in everyday life.
Posted 4/28/2007 12:57 PM by jonathan_camenisch
> I haven’t dug into it lately, but I’m not sure we really
> have a good definition for what AI is yet, so we don’t
> know if we’ve “achieved it” or not. 
Well, let me know when you find a proper definition. But it seems to me that what Google does is present an artificial illusion of intelligence–just not as much intelligence as you are hoping for.
I don’t think we will ever be able to say someone has “achieved it.”
Oh, and SPAM filters also use some forms of artificial intelligence. Pretty crude compared to the cyborgs on T2 or whatever, but its aim is “intelligence.”
Posted 4/29/2007 8:16 AM by jonathan_camenisch
