Dear Jon,
Now that computers have triumphed over man in the greatest intellectual arena devised by man - Jeopardy! - where does artificial intelligence go from here? And should we fear it?
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
- JPS (2011)
Now that computers have triumphed over man in the greatest intellectual arena devised by man - Jeopardy! - where does artificial intelligence go from here? And should we fear it?
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
- JPS (2011)
Ah, yes. Watson: the computer that knew all the questions as well as the answers. I remember being decidedly remiss to the news that he triumphed over Jennings and Rutter, as was most people I talked to.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to escape my attention that Watson, still a computer, was no longer behaving in a computer-like fashion; it (he) was “questioning answers” by employing logic and analysis, rather than simply weighing variables and recalling information. For the duration of the show, sans the necessary programming to keep it operation, Watson was following its own code, making its own decisions, and learning, all without an Internet connection.
If I had to trace where true artificial intelligence was birthed, it would likely be traced to that episode of Jeopardy!, on national television, for all the world to see. Of course, this was essentially a publicity stunt of IBM a la Deep Blue, and much like the Kasparov’s Chess-playing arch-nemesis, the suspicion of cheating is forever present. But it was a seminal moment in computer science nonetheless, where instructions are followed, ignored, adjusted, and rewritten based on the situations that change from answer to answer, and at speeds faster than the finest Jeopardy! minds America has been able to craft.
Watson’s achievement is sadly forgetting in the course of history. It’s easy to take for granted his triumph over man when you consider the way array of applications of artificial intelligence in our day-to-day lives. We have computers that make our beds and cool our pillows, computers that drive our cars and handle our shipping, ensuring the quickest and safest route simultaneously, as the two aspects are no longer mutually exclusive. Computers arrange our schedules, for work and for play, assessing priorities based on our history of interests. Computers balance our budgets, both individually and on the global economical level, paying our bills and taking out loans whenever necessary. Nanobots dilate and reshape our irises, performing micro-Lasik surgeries 360 times a second, while the rest of our body is checked at a more leisurely 120hz for anomalies such as tumors or internal bleeding. The list extends.
Next stop: emotions; tricky to simulate, as we have little concept of what they are in the first place. And yes, we (with the assistance of more advanced AI) are beginning to fashion a computer capable of experiencing joy, sorry, fear, regret, and homicidal jealousy. It’s primarily purposed to help bridge the gap between man and machine, allowing for more natural communication between the two. But when that day comes, the question will always linger as to whether machines are capable of actual feelings. That's something I don’t feel anyone can ever truthfully answer.
-JPS (2049)