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Ask HN: What are the long-run implications of Watson's technology?

2 points by wesleyzhao 16y ago

How are normal consumers going to see this type of technology (if at all) in the future? What are the possibilities?

motters 16y ago
I doubt that there will be many, if any, implications. As a narrow AI system Watson is unlikely to have wider applicability or scalability. It's the classic dilemma of narrow AI. People asked similar questions after the famous Kasparov defeat to Deep Blue. That event did have implications for chess players, but not much beyond that.
- wesleyzhao 16y ago
  I think its also a little narrow to think its just narrow AI. There is definitely potential for Watson for the avg consumer.
pzxc 16y ago
Natural language is an artifact of human communication, so the most obvious application is human interaction. Eventually (who knows how long it will be), you may be talking to a Watson descendant for most interactions with businesses -- everything from requesting online help on a website to ordering your cheeseburger at McDonald's. "A Big Mac? Wouldn't you like a nice order of Global Thermonuclear War instead?" Like Ken Jennings and Kent Brokman, I too welcome our new (computer) overlords. Bring it on, Skynet.
- wesleyzhao 16y ago
  You see only an application for Businesses? I am really interested in seeing what it could end up doing for the average household.
mindcrime 16y ago
Take the Red pill, dude. All joking aside, I think the long-term implications are closer to the computer on Star Trek than to the Matrix or Skynet. Better natural language understanding and information retrieval should make it easier to ask a computer to find information for us and do tasks for us. I don't think any of this has much to do with the computer become self-aware and deciding that it should take control of mankind's future...
- wesleyzhao 16y ago
  I really see this! Just basically an interactive Computer for the average Mom who needs to know something. Home automation is the future.

2 points by wesleyzhao 16y ago

How are normal consumers going to see this type of technology (if at all) in the future? What are the possibilities?

I doubt that there will be many, if any, implications. As a narrow AI system Watson is unlikely to have wider applicability or scalability. It's the classic dilemma of narrow AI. People asked similar questions after the famous Kasparov defeat to Deep Blue. That event did have implications for chess players, but not much beyond that.

wesleyzhao 16y ago
I think its also a little narrow to think its just narrow AI. There is definitely potential for Watson for the avg consumer.

pzxc 16y ago

Natural language is an artifact of human communication, so the most obvious application is human interaction. Eventually (who knows how long it will be), you may be talking to a Watson descendant for most interactions with businesses -- everything from requesting online help on a website to ordering your cheeseburger at McDonald's. "A Big Mac? Wouldn't you like a nice order of Global Thermonuclear War instead?" Like Ken Jennings and Kent Brokman, I too welcome our new (computer) overlords. Bring it on, Skynet.

wesleyzhao 16y ago
You see only an application for Businesses? I am really interested in seeing what it could end up doing for the average household.

mindcrime 16y ago

Take the Red pill, dude. All joking aside, I think the long-term implications are closer to the computer on Star Trek than to the Matrix or Skynet. Better natural language understanding and information retrieval should make it easier to ask a computer to find information for us and do tasks for us. I don't think any of this has much to do with the computer become self-aware and deciding that it should take control of mankind's future...

wesleyzhao 16y ago
I really see this! Just basically an interactive Computer for the average Mom who needs to know something. Home automation is the future.