Artificial Intelligence Is a Thing
May 23, 2016
I thought the hyperbole about Big Data was the cherry on the ice cream sundae. I was wrong. Artificial intelligence (what I call smart software) is the champ of marketers. A good example is the write up “This KFC in China Now Uses Robots to Take Customers’ Orders.” [If this link begs for money or a registration, blame not me. Write Jeff Bezos, owner.]
I live in Kentucky where KFC is almost as beloved as bourbon, horse racing, and gambling. When I was in Arles, a person asked me where I was from. I said, “Kentucky.” The statements elicited a blank stare. I said, “Kentucky fried chicken.” Response: Big smile and “oui, oui.”
I learned in the write up:
A KFC restaurant in China is now using two robots to help take customers’ orders. KFC said it enlisted the robots in its concept store in Shanghai to bring a fun and high-tech element to the dining experience.
The Bezos newspaper suggests that the motivation is “fun” and “high tech” cachet. The reality is more mundane. KFC wants to get out of the human staff trap. Some of the outlets I have heard have turnover approaching 50 percent a month. There you go. Big costs for recruitment, training, and annoyed customers who depart because the order taker was fiddling with a smartphone or dealing with drive through customers. Robots mean fewer humans. Fewer humans mean big payoffs once the gizmos are amortized.
Artificial intelligence and robots. Absolutely.
I noted “The AI Business Landscape” from the cheerleaders at O’Reilly. As interest in digital change in the US government wanes, smart software can take up the slack. I learned:
We find that more than 600 companies have jumped into applying deep learning with real budgets. As you can see in the figure below, about 90 companies (level 3), have made strategic investments in deep learning for their businesses. Another 177 companies (level 2) are developing projects using deep learning with dedicated resources in staff. And more than 350 companies (level 1) are experimenting with deep learning in their labs.
Publishing and conference organizing meets the mid tier consulting world. By golly, with some many companies getting on the smart software bandwagon, the revolution is here. It is real. It is – well – the new big thing.
The “real” journalists working at the Daily Mail in England took a different angle of attack. I read “Artificial Intelligence Will Create a ‘Useless Class’ of Humans as Machines Take Over, Historian Warns.” Bummer.
What if you, gentle reader, are a member of the “useless class of humans”? Mortgage, children’s college expenses, vacation in Cuzco? Nope. Zero unless you find a way to become non-useless. I learned:
Rather than being violently wiped out by robotic beings, humankind may become eternally useless’ due to the increasing capabilities of AI…. As humans become functionally ‘useless’ in comparison, we may no longer have value in the eyes of political and economic systems. This could in turn result in humans losing their sense of purpose.
I assume one can ask Siri or run a Google search to seek find out the truth. The easy way may be to believe the hyperbole. Universal income will smooth out the wrinkles in the bedding.
Stephen E Arnold, May 23, 2016
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