Mind the Gap | The biggest limitation of artificial intelligence is it’s only as smart as the data sets served
AI’s main limitation is that it learns from given data. There is no other way that knowledge can be integrated, unlike human learning. This means that any inaccuracies in the data will be reflected in the results.
“The mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardise it,” said Hal the computer to the astronauts in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The artificial intelligence (AI) race has taken on the portentous public relations spectre of the Soviet-USA race to the moon, or to build the first atomic bomb. Periodic announcements of milestone achievements confuse many because few understand what it means for an algorithm to pass a test reading literature.
The dominance of big American tech companies- Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Uber and Google versus the rise of China’s biggest tech outfits: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, has created intense competition for resources and specialists. Yet, what are all of them racing towards?
Ignore the science fiction scenarios of dystopia; like the worry of AI causing the next war, or financial crash that will impoverish or extinguish humans.
Fear of the unknown fuels the imagination and dark humour. Just before the test of the first atomic bomb at Trinity, nuclear scientist Enrico Fermi offered side bets to colleagues on whether the explosion would incinerate the earth’s atmosphere.
The reality is that the impact of AI will be most profound in specific business applications. The main limitation is that it learns from given data. There is no other way that knowledge can be integrated, unlike human learning. This means that any inaccuracies in the data will be reflected in the results. Today’s AI systems are trained to do a clearly defined task. The system that plays chess cannot play solitaire or poker.
