
Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels - hvo
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/technology/on-wheels-and-wings-artificial-intelligence-swarms-silicon-valley.html?contentCollection=weekendreads&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=c-column-middle-span-region&region=c-column-middle-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-middle-span-region
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paulsutter
That inventory-checking robot may be the most useful AI startup product I've
seen. It's a valuable and large problem, challenging yet tractable with
today's technology.

Curious if anyone knows other valuable and unique markets being addressed by
new startups.

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MojoJolo
I'm thinking, isn't the robot somewhat unnecessary? Can't it be done by
software instead? Maybe connecting into the inventory management system / POS
if the grocery store and do the AI processing in it.

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clort
I thought that, but the inventory management gets out of sync when stock is
removed without going through the POS (stealing)

Even for a warehouse (restricted access), there is a need for stock counting
as mistakes can be made

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nibs
Eventually, an AI that accounted for shrink would be more accurate than any
number of cycle counts. Actually, it would not take long, most major retailers
have shrink predictions down to two or three decimals, you would just need to
train the AI to account for shrink. The most important role of inventory is
knowing how much to re-order, which can be done by the AI more easily than any
human analysts once you have enough training data. Source: worked in retail
management, then inventory software.

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vonnik
For many readers of HN, this article is obviously true. But so obvious that
you might wonder if it's newsworthy, a rehashing of what we hear so often:

* AI will take jobs

> a prototype inventory checker developed by Bossa Nova Robotics silently
> glided through the aisles using computer vision to automatically perform a
> task that humans have done manually for centuries.

* VCs move in packs

> “We saw a slow trickle in investments in robotics, and suddenly, boom —
> there seem to be a dozen companies ..."

* The rush for talent

> “The number of people trying to get the students to drop out of the class
> halfway through because now they know a little bit of this stuff is crazy.”

* The strawman of superintelligence

> For some technologists, today’s technical advances are laying the groundwork
> for truly brilliant machines that will soon have human-level intelligence.

* The evocation of AI winter, just to be safe

> ...so the commercial enthusiasm ended in disappointment, leading to a period
> now referred to as the “A.I. Winter.”

Add a potted history of Silicon Valley as a "place that reinvents itself" and
the Canadian mafia's origin story about deep learning, and you have a recipe
for almost any news article about AI, ever.

Not much new here.

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elgabogringo
Take that framework, put it into a program, and pretty soon you could have an
AI that churns out articles for the NYT!

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elgabogringo
Are drones and robots really about AI or are they more about processors that
can handle intensive image processing and control systems on a cheap, low-
power silicon die?

Don't get me wrong, I think robotics is gonna be yuuuuuge, but I see AI as
more of a software play in the near term (consumer/biz, not embedded.)

Oh, and robots don't have a minimum wage. Something to think about as we push
up labor costs at the low end (unnecessarily IMO.) Is it a coincidence that I
see touch-screens in SF McDonalds the year following the min-wage increase?
The technology has been there for a long time.

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jayjay71
The tricky part is understanding consumer behavior. McDonald's has been
rolling out touchscreens in San Francisco where they are still operating, but
they also tried this in Colorado and in under a month they removed most
because they were losing customers. Operational efficiencies are always
wonderful on the backend, but when you put them in front of your customers
it's important to understand their reactions as they may have negative
reactions. There are lots of people who are not happy about robots taking
jobs, and if they can see these robots it will influence their loyalty to that
store.

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elgabogringo
Good point. I did walk out of a McDonalds w/ touch screens by Union Square a
few months ago. It wasn't a statement on robots. I just didn't find the
experience very good. I remember being a bit confused by the process.

Funny, but now I remember ordering at touch screens at McDonalds in France
last year. Even though it was in French (I speak no French) I found the
process simple. Simpler than face to face ordering, to be sure, since I could
order by picture.

Maybe, like the self-checkout lines at the grocery store, which I hated at
first but usually choose now because the line is quicker, there's a learning
curve. In fact, maybe McDonalds in Colorado should have waited before pulling
those touchscreens?

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peter303
I there is more success than 1980s A.I. A whole lot hoopla then. Fear Japan
would whomp us. And then never went anywhere. In the 1980s it was LISP
machines, expert systems, and logical programming languages. Now it is deep
learning and self driving cars.

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brianbreslin
The inventory robot reminds me of an idea I had 11 years ago to use roomba
tech + rfid readers to track inventory in stores like walmart. Curious to see
how their use of computer vision can account for things like depth of shelves
etc.

