Is Artificial Intelligence more intelligent?
The meeting this week really piqued my interest in 50N, but I was most surprised about the discussion regarding the potential of artificial intelligence. Yes, there are sectors in the world that soon could be run completely by this technology, but is this really going to be the case? Personally, I believe that the value of human contact in many sectors will outweigh the possible benefits presented by AI. People have done things a certain way for so long, and I cannot image that changing. Even though I am saying this, something must be given up to pave the way for innovation… only time will tell. Will AI’s influence in the “store” world make the overall shopping experience more efficient? Probably, but it will also take away from the human touch that can be seen in so many stores.
Another topic that was discussed this week was AI’s potential scope. How smart can it actually become? I personally hold the opinion that technology can only be as smart as its developers made it. I do not think that computers themselves will be able to make themselves more intelligent. So don’t worry, I do not believe that robots will be taking over the world anytime soon.
It was great to reconvene with the seminar this week; I enjoyed getting back into the swing of things with our readings, especially after a tough, monotonous period loaded with midterms. I am looking forward to our discussion about technology’s implications in the government sector. To be continued…
Jim Waldo
October 22, 2017 @ 9:13 pm
I share your skepticism about some of the claims of AI. But there are already places where we use AI as a shopping assistant. When you go to Amazon, it will show you things that it thinks you might be interested in buying based on your history. The AI is pretty basic, but it can be kind of surprising when it gets things close to right. But Amazon has gotten rid of human interaction with their “store” by using search and recommendation, both of which are kinds of AI. And they seem to be doing pretty well at retail.
Where I think you are right is that this isn’t the same kind of experience that you get in a human-staffed store. And I think this is one of the places that the advocates of AI get things pretty wrong. AI isn’t going to take over the way we do things; instead, where it is successful, it will change the way we do things. A different kind of takeover. But it does leave space for the human touch, as well.
profsmith
October 22, 2017 @ 11:41 pm
Let me continue with your and Jim’s focus on shopping. While AI has changed the way we shop for many things, I also question, as you do, whether we’ve built something smarter than we are. If you assigned a personal shopper (a real human trained for this task) to an individual shopper, would Amazon’s AI be smarter (produce better recommendations) than the personal shopper? I’m not convinced. Of course, only a few people in the world can afford a personal shopper that spends their entire life looking after an individual shopper’s personal likes and dislikes. AI makes this experience (at least a lot of this experience) available to many more people.