Not many of my posts deal with headline news, mainly because the issues typically dealt in that space are of very serious nature, way beyond me, overhead transmission. Then, imagine how I would have felt when I landed on a blog space on The Guardian called “Shortcuts” with the strapline reading, “A sideways look at the news.” OK, this might only be a sideways look at serious news and not necessarily beyond the pale of headline news. Yet, beggars cannot be choosers. Hence, I am thrilled.
I found more reason to be thrilled when I spotted a post entitled, “Why IBM’s Watson supercomputer can’t speak slang” [1]. While IBM can make headline news, and even Watson can be somewhere up there, slang is decidedly not upmarket! Therefore, this “Shortcuts” post must be a sideways look at a side issue – right up my alley!
But my alley runs a little crooked and forces a detour. Hence I am first going to what is called Turing test, which I heard for the first time in Roger Penrose’s book Emperor’s New Mind. The Turing Test came into being in 1950 and I heard it in the mid 1990s! That is how slow I am.
And, computers are fast, blindingly fast. The Turing Test boils down to a computer convincing a significant number of a group of people that it is more of a human being than a human being when it is pitted against a human being (something like being more English than the English!). This is where my snail paced thinking process comes into play. If the computer has to convince anyone that it is me, it has to slow down considerably; equally importantly, if the test is in arithmetic, it has to consciously make mistakes, not too often but often enough. Thus, as the computer tries to mimic me, it proves that it is conscious! Oh, how simple all of this is!
But, it gets simpler. Understand that words of profanity are easily accommodated within one’s personal vocabulary and they are difficult to delete. I am a standing example of this.
But, as per the blog post, IBM’s supercomputer Watson, even after imbibing the Urban Dictionary, “the popular website [http://www.urbandictionary.com/] that provides definitions of thousands of slang words, including ones of a profane nature”, flubbed figuring out what “bullshit” meant.
Ironically, this is why I think it is quite easy to make a computer take on the persona of a human being; after all, with appropriate training it cannot be all that difficult to become fluent in profanity! Ask me! What Watson needed was an effective teacher.
Eric Brown, the current trainer of Watson was too straight, too square. Had the Watson team hired me as the trainer, the supercomputer would have come out with flying colors, fooling everyone and all that it is a human being, particularly it is Raghuram! It would have been more Raghuram than Raghuram! Watson would have learned in a trice “how to behave in a generalised situation.”
Now you know why I was thrilled at this post – I have a job waiting for me at IBM, as Watson’s trainer! But, there is a downside, as always. Watson may turn the tables on me and shout, “OMG, that’s a bullshit question. Eat one, you doofus.”
Do you know what “doofus” is? I don’t and I am rushing to the Urban Dictionary!
Raghuram Ekambaram
References
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/shortcuts/2013/jan/11/ibm-watson-supercomputer-cant-talk-slang
I found more reason to be thrilled when I spotted a post entitled, “Why IBM’s Watson supercomputer can’t speak slang” [1]. While IBM can make headline news, and even Watson can be somewhere up there, slang is decidedly not upmarket! Therefore, this “Shortcuts” post must be a sideways look at a side issue – right up my alley!
But my alley runs a little crooked and forces a detour. Hence I am first going to what is called Turing test, which I heard for the first time in Roger Penrose’s book Emperor’s New Mind. The Turing Test came into being in 1950 and I heard it in the mid 1990s! That is how slow I am.
And, computers are fast, blindingly fast. The Turing Test boils down to a computer convincing a significant number of a group of people that it is more of a human being than a human being when it is pitted against a human being (something like being more English than the English!). This is where my snail paced thinking process comes into play. If the computer has to convince anyone that it is me, it has to slow down considerably; equally importantly, if the test is in arithmetic, it has to consciously make mistakes, not too often but often enough. Thus, as the computer tries to mimic me, it proves that it is conscious! Oh, how simple all of this is!
But, it gets simpler. Understand that words of profanity are easily accommodated within one’s personal vocabulary and they are difficult to delete. I am a standing example of this.
But, as per the blog post, IBM’s supercomputer Watson, even after imbibing the Urban Dictionary, “the popular website [http://www.urbandictionary.com/] that provides definitions of thousands of slang words, including ones of a profane nature”, flubbed figuring out what “bullshit” meant.
Ironically, this is why I think it is quite easy to make a computer take on the persona of a human being; after all, with appropriate training it cannot be all that difficult to become fluent in profanity! Ask me! What Watson needed was an effective teacher.
Eric Brown, the current trainer of Watson was too straight, too square. Had the Watson team hired me as the trainer, the supercomputer would have come out with flying colors, fooling everyone and all that it is a human being, particularly it is Raghuram! It would have been more Raghuram than Raghuram! Watson would have learned in a trice “how to behave in a generalised situation.”
Now you know why I was thrilled at this post – I have a job waiting for me at IBM, as Watson’s trainer! But, there is a downside, as always. Watson may turn the tables on me and shout, “OMG, that’s a bullshit question. Eat one, you doofus.”
Do you know what “doofus” is? I don’t and I am rushing to the Urban Dictionary!
Raghuram Ekambaram
References
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/shortcuts/2013/jan/11/ibm-watson-supercomputer-cant-talk-slang
2 comments:
I have not read much about Watson. Did not realize that there was a trainer - thanks for the info. However, I did watch its performance on Jeopardy and was mighty impressed. But you bring up a good point. Slang is much easier that say "like that and all I speak means it will understand ah?". At that rate, Watson will need a lot of training - maybe you and me? You teach slang and I teach a different kind of English.
OK, that a deal, Amrit!
Thanks.
RE
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