Critique of IBM Watson: Complain, Complain, Complain
May 4, 2018
I read “The Fraudulent Claims Made by IBM about Watson and AI.” Harsh. As my late grandfather said when my grandmother told him to take off his boots, “Complain, complain, complain. That’s all you do, Maud.”
The write up takes issue with IBM’s claim that Watson does “cognitive computing.” I am not sure what cognitive computing means because most of the Fancy Dan artificial intelligence infused systems I have seen are works in in progress. Sure, if one does not know about the hassles of defining a domain, assembling a corpus, figuring out which of the AI building blocks to use from one’s computer science classes, and then fixing up the system so it generates 80 percent accuracy most of the time—then AI systems look pretty slick.
The problem for companies in the software game is that generating revenues is usually somewhat easier with the right selection of buzzwords, some marketing magic, and a trend strikes fear into the hearts and minds of the potential customer.
I learned fro the write up:
I [Roger Schank] invented a field called Case Based Reasoning in the 80’s which was meant to enable computers to compare new situations to old ones and then modify what the computer knew as a result. We were able to build some useful systems. And we learned a lot about human learning. Did I think we had created computers that were now going to outthink people or soon become conscious? Of course not. I thought we had begun to create computers that would be more useful to people. It would be nice if IBM would tone down the hype and let people know what Watson can actually do and stop making up nonsense about love fading and out thinking cancer. IBM is simply lying now and they need to stop. AI winter is coming soon.
I like the AI winter part.
Is artificial intelligence a field which deserves the “Complain, complain, complain” refrain?
What is interesting to me is the number of companies in the search and retrieval game now pitching their smart software. The idea is that the search system “knows” what the user wants.
Why not wear one of these cilices under your shirt when you attend an artificial intelligence conference?
Frankly, I don’t want a search and retrieval system to be smart. I want a system which returns relevant results for my keyword centric, Boolean query. No software “knows” what I need for my research.
Example: I recalled that 17th century clerics in Spain often starved themselves in order to experience religious visions. I could not recall the word one uses to describe the “vest” of sharp wire some of these individuals wore to enhance their suffering. I tried Bing. I tried Google. I tried Yandex. Finally I changed my angle of attack and poked around for redemptive suffering. Bingo. I saw a reference to cilice, and I remembered the word.
Conclusion: I will be long gone before smart software can anticipate what I need and refine my search so that I can locate the information I only vaguely remember.
Can Watson help me? Not yet. I know one thing. The craziness of the AI marketers is the 2018 equivalent of a cilice. Those gizmos are painful and make it easier to perceive the reality of software.
Stephen E Arnold, May 4, 2018
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