Continuing from the previous blog post, the second article I directed the students to read as part of A3 Tailored Cover Letter and Resume is
Artificial Intelligence: The Robots Are Now Hiring (a half-page article introducing a 10-min video)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-the-robots-are-now-hiring-moving-upstream-1537435820
https://www.wsj.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-the-robots-are-now-hiring-moving-upstream-1537435820
The article and the video proved eye-opening for many students. Using algorithms in software to simulate intelligence is nothing new and quite common.
A few years ago, I emailed a company's customer support with some questions. The email responses I received made little sense. I deduced that they were (maybe still are) using software to response to questions based on keywords/phrases in my email. But when the question is not simple or straightforward, the software make a best guess and respond accordingly. After a few rounds of exchange, a human finally responded and interpreted and answered my questions correctly.
I wonder what other examples of artificial intelligence have my students come across :-)
Students, your example must unique!
It's amazing and a little scary how fast AI is advancing. I never knew they were using AI for the interview process, but this has pros and cons. A pro is that it can streamline the interview process to review more clients, but a con is that having face to face contact with a potential employee can tell you a lot about their personality and behaviors. One instance of AI that I encountered was in the Philippines. We were at a very fancy hotel and they had a self service bartender. It was unusual but interesting, this machine would not only take your drink orders and dispense them but it could help you make a decision. We tried out this option by telling the machine what we like and disliked and what kind of mood we were in. A few seconds later it came up with a whiskey sour, which was surprising since I said I was in a relaxed mood. The advancement of AI will open up doors we never knew existed.
ReplyDeleteYes, artificial intelligence is constantly evolving and being fine-tuned. Excellent example of an AI in action: a decision tree built into a software to reach a result :-) Hmm... I hoped you liked the whiskey sour ^_^
DeleteI find it alarming that AI such as this is being used for interviewing processes. Nothing can replace real human interaction, and people's expressions can change based on that alone. I remember with my current job, I had to take a language competency test for Japanese. I had to listen to questions and respond in Japanese. My superiors never gave me the results of the test, but since I am still there, I assume I at least met the minimum requirement. What I do remember from taking that test was that I felt awkward "conversating" with a robot and my responses did not feel genuine. I cannot be the only person who has this response to interacting with AI, and I think using that as a tool for the interview process puts the applicant in a very tough position.
ReplyDeleteOne example that comes to mind for AI is a robot in a hospital. I asked a nurse it's function, and it would basically take blood samples, medical records and etc to various destinations in the hospital. This was at a very large Army medical center in Hawaii so I can definitely see it's convenience for using it, however, it moved extremely slowly so anything it transported probably could not be urgent.
Glad you landed your job despite "conversating" with a robot :-) Robot in a hospital, best example yet! Slow speed is a small price to pay for automation, at least in this case ^_^
DeleteArtificial Intelligence is certainly something being implemented throughout more companies and organization; I find the idea quite frightening and not so helpful, quite frankly. An example I have had with Artificial Intelligence is when driving in a Tesla that allows for a self-driving experience and the entire vehicle runs entirely electronically.
ReplyDeleteTaking all the sensor inputs, interpret them and take appropriate actions (i.e. driving a car) via software is quite an accomplishment :-)
DeleteI think I love and hate the idea of AI. On the one hand a robot can do a repetitive job and not get tired as easily as a human would but I feel that no matter how smart a machine is there's just no replacing an actual human being's intuition and decision making. Honestly, the only AI interaction I think I've had is yelling at Alexa to play "let it go" from Frozen again for the millionth time.
ReplyDeleteAlexa is unable to process the verbal command of "Alexa, play "Let It Go" from Frozen" as you intended? Looks like Amazon has more development to do on its language processing algorithms :-)
DeleteThe sentence that stood out to me the most was "...potentially faulty algorithms could do more damage than one biased human manager." As long as everything is working how its supposed to then AI will be a great tool to use. However, AI can't fully replace the in-person experience. A common AI that is used can be found in the Pandora app. This AI analyzes the music a person listens to then groups songs with similar attributes in a recommended section.
ReplyDeleteI heard of the Pandora app. Artificial intelligence can be simple as grouping similar attributes to arrive at a conclusion :-)
DeleteThe advancement of artificial intelligence is a remarkable accomplishment for humankind. Artificial intelligence has been projected into our society through a negative perception, this perception for me has mostly come from motion pictures. The Terminator movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is the 1st movie I remember that represented a world of human beings coexisting with AI. This big blockbuster will give most people a fearful view towards artificial intelligence, the possibility that an AI will become more intelligent than its creator. Another logical outlook is the reduced need of humans in the workforce. The world is consistently evolving, and I believe Artificial Intelligence is ingenious. Autonomous delivery drones are a form of artificial intelligence I have not personally experienced, but I am aware it is being tested at the moment.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite movie is Terminator II: Judgement Day :-) Skynet definitely stands out as an ominous example of artificial intelligence overtaking us humans! I have seen videos of autonomous delivery drones delivery packages. I think they are already in use.
DeleteI'm not going to lie, it's scary how advanced Artificial Intelligence is. It's getting smarter and smarter every year and is taking over most functions that require humans. I would feel weird if interviewed by AI. Although it's being programed to understand human behavior/characteristics, it cannot replace the role of a human. It's not as natural and may have flaws when dealing with humans on a human level. One person that has introduced Artificial Intelligence to me is Elon Musk. I'm always watching videos of him explaining it's development. The two AI's I came across is Siri on iPhones and automated email senders that most marketers use to reach their list of email clients (me) for a product they're selling. AI will get more advanced later on in the future.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when Siri would be mentioned as an example of artificial intelligence :-) Automatic email senders is a good example too. Interpreting human behavior/characteristics based how a human programmed the logic is straight-forward. Mimicking human behavior/characteristics is another story.
DeleteThe technology is remarkable and has many possible applications. One example I have encountered is a housekeeping robot that moves around the store on its own. I wondered if it would stop if I stopped in front of it or not. When I stopped in front of it, it stopped for me, very nice.
ReplyDeleteHousekeeping robot, cool! Glad it stopped :-) If the software was not programmed to stop or take some other appropriate action when the sensor indicates something/someone is in its path, it's not very intelligent, is it?
DeleteI think people working to develop AI overestimate its supposed ability to eliminate human bias. It wasn't that long ago that facial recognition was banned in several states because of the ethnic inequities found in its algorithms. The programs don't recognize what it doesn't know and therefore is biased against it. If the programmers who write the algorithms don't know or notice inequities or differences the program won't either and we simply don't have enough diversity in most technology fields. I especially don't think AI should be used for things as personal as an interview. However I do appreciate the growing role it has played in household task such as, home security, cleaning, lighting, entertainment, etc. Google maps is the AI I use most often not only to get to my destination but also to scope out new spots around the city I want to explore.
ReplyDeleteFunny you mentioned facial recognition algorithms are not able to work equally well across different ethnicities. One of my later blog post touches on this.
DeleteMap apps such as Google Maps are getting 'smarter' with each version :-)