Podcast: Framing,The Power of Mental Models

 Podcast Brought to my Attention.  Does more data mean better decisions?  Or is it how we use/frame the data?  Framing decisions rather than using decisions.  New counterfactuals.  Constraints. But AI systems have no causal model of the world.

The Power of Mental Models and the Limits of  AI

Found in the usual places for podcasts  .... Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, RSS 

We can’t rely on AI to solve problems rooted in causal relationships, but we can use it to enact the breakthrough solutions that humans develop.

Kenneth Cukier, senior editor at the Economist, and Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the University of Oxford, argue that because AI systems have no causal model of the world, they lack the human capacity for imagination and decision-making. Azeem Azhar explores their contention that we should not rely on AI to provide solutions to our problems. Rather we should systematically challenge how we frame our problems in order to produce breakthrough insights and innovations — then use AI to help enact those solutions.

They also discuss: How “reframing” old technologies unleashed advances for SpaceX, Apple, Spotify and others.

How proper framing empowered New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to battle Covid-19 in her country.

Why you should not think “outside the box,” but instead “switch boxes.”  ....  '

Why is AI so Confused by Language?

From the Elemental Blog, well worth reading through there:

Why is AI so confused by language? It’s all about mental models.  By David Ferrucci

In my last post, I shared some telling examples where computers failed to understand what they read. The errors they made were bizarre and fundamental. But why? Computers are clearly missing something, but can we more clearly pin down what?

Let’s examine one specific error that sheds some light on the situation. My team ran an experiment where we took the same first-grade story I discussed last time, but truncated the final sentence:

Fernando and Zoey go to a plant sale. They buy mint plants. They like the minty smell of the leaves.

Fernando puts his plant near a sunny window. Zoey puts her plant in her bedroom. Fernando’s plant looks green and healthy after a few days. But Zoey’s plant has some brown leaves.

“Your plant needs more light,” Fernando says.

Zoey moves her plant to a sunny window. Soon, ___________.

[adapted from ReadWorks.org]

Then we asked workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk to fill in the blank. Here’s what the workers suggested: