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AI Journalist Helps You Talk Trash During March Madness

20 points by RobbieStats 16y ago

JoachimSchipper 16y ago
More interesting than the baseball stats, to me: "StatSmack will give you any stats it can find that support [that a tiny, unranked team will beat #1]. (...) In almost every industry we are faced with an overload of data. (...) We will need to turn to computers to process these piles of data (...) Stat Smack is a clear example of how that dependence could be a danger if we’re not careful. With enough information, an AI can select data to support almost any conclusion you want to draw." More concretely: to what extent will something like Palantir actually improve decisions, and to what extent will it be used to produce reams of supporting evidence for a predetermined outcome?
- jerf 16y ago
  This page [1] suggests Southern is a good candidate for "worst team" and Ohio State a good candidate for "best team". It is interesting to compare the two smacks [2] [3]. One interesting side effect of how this is set up is that while the system will tell you what you want to hear, the very first link after that is basically "And here's why that's wrong", which suggests one way to ameliorate your concern. A good understanding of stats could help. Though that's a scary thing to require before safe use of a beguilingly-simple tech can be used safely.... then again we've been using stats to lie by hand for a long time. Maybe this isn't so new. [1]: http://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/rankings/ http://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/rankings/ [2]: http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=ohio-state&t1=southern-university http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=ohio-state&... - Southern better than OSU [3]: http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=southern-university&t1=ohio-state http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=southern-univer... - other way around
  - sparky 16y ago
    In particular, check out the crime statistics at the bottom of each page. Apparently Columbus and Baton Rouge both have higher crime rates than one another!
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]

20 points by RobbieStats 16y ago

More interesting than the baseball stats, to me: "StatSmack will give you any stats it can find that support [that a tiny, unranked team will beat #1]. (...) In almost every industry we are faced with an overload of data. (...) We will need to turn to computers to process these piles of data (...) Stat Smack is a clear example of how that dependence could be a danger if we’re not careful. With enough information, an AI can select data to support almost any conclusion you want to draw." More concretely: to what extent will something like Palantir actually improve decisions, and to what extent will it be used to produce reams of supporting evidence for a predetermined outcome?

jerf 16y ago
This page [1] suggests Southern is a good candidate for "worst team" and Ohio State a good candidate for "best team". It is interesting to compare the two smacks [2] [3]. One interesting side effect of how this is set up is that while the system will tell you what you want to hear, the very first link after that is basically "And here's why that's wrong", which suggests one way to ameliorate your concern. A good understanding of stats could help. Though that's a scary thing to require before safe use of a beguilingly-simple tech can be used safely.... then again we've been using stats to lie by hand for a long time. Maybe this isn't so new. [1]: http://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/rankings/ http://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/rankings/ [2]: http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=ohio-state&t1=southern-university http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=ohio-state&... - Southern better than OSU [3]: http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=southern-university&t1=ohio-state http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stat_smack?t2=southern-univer... - other way around
- sparky 16y ago
  In particular, check out the crime statistics at the bottom of each page. Apparently Columbus and Baton Rouge both have higher crime rates than one another!
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]