
Intelligent machines: Making AI work in the real world - ColinWright
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34143171
======
rm_-rf_slash
>In order for AI to fulfil its long-term potential for society, we need to
direct research even more toward real-world messiness: how do you help someone
plan a last-minute great vacation when they've got limited budget, two picky
kids, and only a few days to squeeze it into?

Maybe instead of better vacation planning, people simply want a longer
vacation?

>Can we reduce the noise of modern life by giving you smarter filters on your
emails, your social media feeds, your schedule - can we give you less spam and
more time?

Why does every new "innovation" seem to be a stronger set of staples squeezing
us to our work? Could a complex comprehension of desirable life even be
understood by a Google billionaire? Could it be understood by a Google A.I.?

Or my favorite:

>Today, you're much better off building a smart system that can learn from the
real world - what actual listeners are most likely to like next - and help you
predict who and where the next Adele might be. As a bonus, it's a much less
elitist taste-making process - much more democratic - allowing everyone to
discover the next big star through our own collective tastes and not through
the individual preferences of a select few.

If the algorithm that runs predictive preferences is owned, operated, and
maintained by a single corporation, I'm not sure how it can be any _more_
elitist.

This is the danger with treating the human species as an engineering problem,
and the blind faith we put into the words of people who will never again have
to work a day in ten lifetimes.

~~~
eli_gottlieb
>Why does every new "innovation" seem to be a stronger set of staples
squeezing us to our work?

Because that is the goal of the system which charters the companies which
employ the people which do the algorithms research, and there has been quite a
lot of propaganda to imbue the people with loyalty to the system.

