Re:Google A.I. researchers develop alternative architecture ...
by losteric on Sunday November 12, 2017 @12:56AM
(#15679876)
Siri promised to be that revolutionary digital assistant. After 7 years of Apple buying startups and spinoffs that make the same promise, Siri is as dumb as ever. Alexa works better because it's "dumber" - a very well trained NLP wrapped around a still largely human-curated rule/knowledge database. I've heard of more realistic dumb systems, but no murmurs suggesting a revolutionary step towards AGI.
Elon Musk is a brilliant man that could become an expert on AI... but right now he is not. I trust him about as much as I trust the people that believed the first nuclear bomb would ignite the atmosphere and end all life on Earth - well-meaning concerns without a true understanding of the domain.
> AI has been a dud for the last two decades.
What? No. We're in the middle of an AI renaissance and I expect nothing less than exponential progress. However, the goal of a digital sapient is still very far away.
Digital assistants dont work at all and I know exactly why. And I also know that digital assistants which are indistinguishable from an domain specific expert are atmost 2 years away.
You can argue that I am going by the hype. Problem is that I am not the only one. Even Elon Musk has expressed similar fears. Most people didnt believe that a nuclear bomb was possible. They had to see a mushroom cloud to get around it. AI has been a dud for the last two decades. It is easy to believe that it will continue being so.