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Computers figuring out what words mean
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by Erik Larson | September 18, 2008 at 12:59 pm
195 views | 4 Recommendations | 3 comments
They might be able to build an AI that can surf the Web for me, but no machine can replace me until it learns to pay taxes, complain, gossip and contribute to economic growth by shopping.
"We have taught the computer virtually all the meanings of words and phrases in the English language," Cognition chief executive Scott Jarus told AFP.
"This is clearly a building block for Web 3.0, or what is known as the Semantic Web. It has taken 30 years; it is a labor of love," Jarus said.
The semantic map is reportedly the world's largest, and gives computers a vocabulary more than 10 times as extensive as that of a typical US college graduate.
The coming third generation of life online is predicted to feature intuitive artificial intelligence applications that work swiftly across broadband Internet connections.
When applied to Internet searches, semantic technology delivers results oriented to what people seem to be seeking instead of simply matching words used to online content.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 15:33 on September 18th, 2008
This is a hopeless task. We don't know what our words mean ourselves. Maybe an AI, Eliza, can fool somebody for a while, but it can't compete with actual human beings no matter how many common meanings for common words it has in its relational database. It will never reach that goal because it isn't intelligent in spite of its somewhat pretentious name--Artificial Intelligence.
at 16:13 on September 18th, 2008
i agree the biological human experience is likely to remain unique in many respects. However, the ability to receive, process, organize and apply information is something even bacteria and George Bush have. A machine or a program that is at least as "self-aware" as a creature that searches out new food sources, reproduces and launches wars based on false pretenses, and is able to learn, make decisions, program itself and replicate, will be able to continuously improve itself not through evolution- random mutation and environmental selection- but thru conscious choice and planning based on knowledge and understanding.
And, it will be able to do this in exponentially accelerating generations, if it matches the trend so far in computing, which mirrors a trend consistent in reality since the Big Bang; from no space/time to existence maintaining a trend of exponentially accelerating production and organization of information and complexity for 13.7 billion years, from the Big Bang to now. Conscious computers are the logical next step.
Accelerating Change
However, there's no way to replace human beings, and artificial intelligence will have different interests non-competive with ours. I imagine it will be somewhat of a symbiotic relationship, just as humans are generally interested in peacefully coexisting and even appreciating each other, and we have bacteria in our gut that help us digest food, and pets that seem like family.
Some of the only things computers won't be able to do better than us are eat, shop, have fun and do stuff that makes it onto America's Funniest Videos. There will be a demand for human companionship and plenty of humans, so there'll be no need to have "computers" seem exactly human- we'll want them to be nicer than us, i would think. If corporations have human rights, will we be able to deny them to artificial intelligence, who will probably run our corporations and governments better than we do, as they won't have our limitations of understanding and our conflicts of interest?
Creating Friendly AI
at 16:16 on September 18th, 2008
I said this before, I'm going to say it again. Computers are robots are going to take over the world one day if we keep making them smarter than us.