Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning : Watson, Jeopardy and me, the Obsolete know it all
Paul Siegel
Serial entrepreneur, educator, tech professional, author, patent-holder, chef, adventurer and more. I create opportunity, for educators, platforms, studios and enterprises.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning : The world knows Ken Jennings for his performance at ‘Jeopardy’. He narrates his story of excelling at game shows such as ‘Jeopardy’ right from his childhood. Ken knew the minute details of many topics. He could even find out hidden double meanings and puns. In 2009, IBM saw his prodigy and began approaching Ken.
Ken was enthusiastic about technologies such as artificial intelligence. That’s why he started working with IBM for the development of the supercomputer. Today, we know this project by the name ‘IBM Watson’. Over time, IBM started dedicating significant resources for Watson, which turned out to be a success. Watson began to defeat top players of ‘Jeopardy’ and gradually started becoming better at it.
The Turning Point in AI and Future Technology:Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Ken Jennings and IBM Watson played a game of ‘Jeopardy’. The supercomputer succeeded in defeating Ken easily. It was a turning point in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning because an AI program defeated the 74-time Jeopardy champion!
It was a clear indication of the dominance of robotics and artificial intelligence in the coming future. We all can see tons of examples where this concept has reduced human labor in mundane processes. Moreover, it became a more robust and precise alternative to it.
The success of IBM Watson also encouraged other tech giants to speed up their research in deep learning and AI. As a result, we can see it pioneering in almost every domain, which involves cognitive abilities and computation.
But hey, there’s also a downside to this. Let us take a look at it.
Because of the widespread use of smartphones followed by deep penetration of the internet, we all are becoming lazy and are losing the ability to think independently. The part of our brain responsible for sensing the direction is shrinking because of reliance on GPS and maps available on our phones.
The Tsunami and the Geography Class : Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Furthermore, Ken argues that this dependency on technology is harmful to our cognitive abilities in the long run. According to a study, around 80% of voters in the US elections can’t point to the location of Afghanistan and Iraq on the world map. It is a big concern these days. Primarily because we’re searching everything on the internet to the extent that we are losing our freedom of thought.
Ken narrated a very practical incident where a girl named Tilly Smith warned her parents about the unusual behavior of sea waves before the 2004 Tsunami. Her parents told this thing to the lifeguard, who evacuated the beach. This little piece of information saved the lives of 100s of people.
The most important thing to notice is, Tilly knew this because of her Geography class. If she would’ve relied on Google search for every query, the outcome would’ve been unfortunate
Choosing our Future
AI is evolving rapidly every day. This is a boon as well as a bane. It is high time for us to decide what kind of future we want. We can reduce reliance on the internet and machines while keeping knowledge available for all. Or we can continue the ongoing trend and trap ourselves into a world governed by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
A lot of people agree with the concerns of visionaries such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking on this topic. Despite a secure future, we should also keep this fact in mind to protect the freedom of the human mind.