AI: A Little Helper for Those Seeking Information

May 31, 2018

Search is a powerful tool and big data software has only improved search’s quality. Search can now locate items in all data structures, ranging from structured to unstructured. Do users, however, actually find the answers they want? InfoWorld runs through the impact AI has had on search in the article, “The Wonders Of AI-Or The Shortcomings Of Search?”

In essence, Google and Amazon’s subsecond search results have spoiled and ruined users. Users are so use to accurate and quick results that they expect all Web sites, software, and hardware to do the same. These search tools are actually providing users with an information overload.

One the other hand, AI makes search and other tools more robust. Organizations use AI not only to power search, but to feed and filter data to make business recommendations. Google and Amazon are not the only ones using it. Other companies that use AI to power their businesses are Uber, Tesla, Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, and Bristol Meyers Squibb. AI takes the search out of search:

“Those last points are crucial. A structural shift is under way. AI cuts through the clutter to provide not endless pages of results to wade through, but with specific recommendations tailored to you as the seeker of knowledge—or simply as the seeker of where to find the best Chicago-style pizza while away from home on a business trip. (Which is not to admit, certainly not in print, that I have not supplemented my normal whole-foods, plant-based, no-meat-or-dairy nutrition by indulging in such a cheesy, guilty pleasure. I present it merely for illustration.) The key construct: AI-driven systems present either the single best solution or a tight shortlist of best-fit solutions.”

AI also augments search by providing recommendations that are related to the original query, but are simply suggestions. This requires that AI be fed a lot of data, so that it can offer proactive assistance.

Big data and AI are empowering, but they do need a checks and balances system. The solution is to combine AI search and regular search into one tool: the curated list and the raw data list.

Whitney Grace, May 31, 2018

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, News, Search

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.