3 ms·

None of the ML people I’ve worked with (mostly at FB and Google, ymmv) have seriously believed we are anywhere close to human-like AI. The shortcomings of curre

None of the ML people I’ve worked with (mostly at FB and Google, ymmv) have seriously believed we are anywhere close to human-like AI. The shortcomings of current ML systems are well understood — given metric tons of data, they are really great nonlinear regressors and data interpolators. They are absolutely terrible at generalizing, with no obvious solutions to this on the horizon.

neuronic 8y ago
I don't think ML people belong to the group that believes we are close before human-like AI. In fact, I think they are some of the few ones in touch about how far away it still is. As it should be. Even a few years ago, I worked as a student at a Big4 and these firms ran out for "technology consulting" and told their clients about AI this, AI that and it's gonna be robots taking it all over. Of course those were advertisements, ruses even, for getting audit & tax customers via the "compliance" angle (e.g. cloud compliance laws). But anyway, their is a true craze about AI and autonomous driving which holistically ignores all the major road blocks that we are facing now. It's buzzwords and marketing all over. It's the Gluten-intolerance of technology. According to general public media we are 2-5 years away from level 5 autonomy. Ask people at Waymo about the issues they face...
marssaxman 8y ago
I'm not sure that's a problem. Humans are terrific generalizers, and it would probably be a good thing for human civilization if human intelligence remained an essential part of the control loop. We can just continue developing ever-more-useful intelligence amplifiers and employing them as extensions of human cognition, instead of replacing ourselves by building minds like our own.
ForHackernews 8y ago
That one "singularity" guy is at Google, isn't he? Elon Musk claims to be worried about malicious super-intelligent AI. It seems like at least some people in the software and software-adjacent industries are talking like AGI is right around the corner.

neuronic 8y ago

I don't think ML people belong to the group that believes we are close before human-like AI. In fact, I think they are some of the few ones in touch about how far away it still is. As it should be. Even a few years ago, I worked as a student at a Big4 and these firms ran out for "technology consulting" and told their clients about AI this, AI that and it's gonna be robots taking it all over. Of course those were advertisements, ruses even, for getting audit & tax customers via the "compliance" angle (e.g. cloud compliance laws). But anyway, their is a true craze about AI and autonomous driving which holistically ignores all the major road blocks that we are facing now. It's buzzwords and marketing all over. It's the Gluten-intolerance of technology. According to general public media we are 2-5 years away from level 5 autonomy. Ask people at Waymo about the issues they face...

marssaxman 8y ago

I'm not sure that's a problem. Humans are terrific generalizers, and it would probably be a good thing for human civilization if human intelligence remained an essential part of the control loop. We can just continue developing ever-more-useful intelligence amplifiers and employing them as extensions of human cognition, instead of replacing ourselves by building minds like our own.

ForHackernews 8y ago

That one "singularity" guy is at Google, isn't he? Elon Musk claims to be worried about malicious super-intelligent AI. It seems like at least some people in the software and software-adjacent industries are talking like AGI is right around the corner.