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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

When Computers Become Smarter than Humans

Knowledge@Wharton looks at the often posed question.  The answer is, they already are.  First they did math better, then searched better, connected to people better, played chess better, stored data better  ...     But these are all relatively narrow areas. Becoming less narrow every day.  At what time do all of these areas combine into everything we do?    Even in these still relatively narrow areas. And is that then assumed to be 'smart'?  Smart,  even for humans,  is always in some context.

What if Computers Become Smarter Than Humans?  Nov 22, 2016

You’re ordering tickets to a play or a big sports event online. You’re almost done when that annoying Captcha screen comes up and makes you type some blurry letters and numbers into a box. This step, as most people know, is to ensure that you’re just a person buying tickets and not a computer program deployed to illicitly to grab up a bunch of seats.

But why can’t a computer that can perform calculations astronomically faster than humans identify the letter B just because it’s in a fancy font with a strikethrough, or the number 5 in a fuzzy photo of a front door? Why is it so easily baffled by something the average second-grader can handle?

The answer lies in understanding the current state of artificial intelligence (AI) — what it’s capable of, what is still beyond its grasp, and how we may be rocketing toward an increasingly intelligent technology without enough thought about the implications for ourselves and our planet. This is according to Tim Urban, author of the quirky, stick-figure-illustrated, popular blog Wait But Why, which counts Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg among its fans. He spoke recently at the McNulty Leadership Program’s Authors@Wharton speaker series.  .... "

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