Artificial Intelligence- Published in the GDN (1Aug2006)

The myth of A.I

Artificial Intelligence has been a topic of discussion for decades where humans had fantasies of having ‘maid robots’ that will play football but also take out the garbage. It has also been a source of fear for some who predicted that machines will reach a level of intelligence and common sense that will allow it to take over the master rather than be the servant (those of you who watched i-robot will know what I am talking about).

People are nowadays fascinated by computers and the things they do. Calculation is a less flashy, but impressive example that saved mankind decades of mathematical laboring that is more likely to fail than succeed.

Search engines are a common example of A.I. Take Google, for instance, or as I and my friends call her, the goddess of search, (yes, she’s a female, she’s accurate), is a fascinating example, try searching two unrelated topics one after the other, your second search will somehow be related to your first. Google, in a way builds a ‘preference’ or ‘profile’ for users so that it only displays results it believes you are interested in.

If you ask a programmer like myself, I would tell you that there is no machine more stupid than a computer. Mind my bluntness, but when programming the machine expects you to tell it exactly what to do, when to do it, and what to do if it failed to do it. It does nothing based on its own thoughts; it just does as it is told.

Recently, when I was shopping for furniture, I met a ‘person’ that (nearly) converted me. Her name is Anna and she ‘works’ for Ikea. She’s what geeks like me call an ‘avatar’ which is a fancy word for a character that has some sort of intelligence that makes suggestions according to the users’ actions to help carry out a task. Here’s the ‘conversation’ I had with her:

Anna: Welcome to IKEA. I'm Anna, IKEA USA's Automated Online Assistant. You can ask me about IKEA and our products and our services. How can I help you today?

Me: Hello Anna, how are you today

Anna: I'm fine, thank you for asking.

Me: How long have you been working for Ikea?

Anna: I am on-line constantly. I was launched on the IKEA USA website on June 2nd 2004.

Me: You’re intelligent.

Anna: I have a vast knowledge base with lots of information about IKEA, our products and services. Ask me a question about IKEA and test me yourself.

Me: Who wrote you?

Anna: I was created by Artificial Solutions (http://www.artificial-solutions.com), IKEA USA (http://www.ikea-usa.com), and HUGE (http://www.hugeinc.com/2001/huge_1000.html).

Me: Do you like your job?

Anna: It's a great job being able to help IKEA customers and web site visitors with their queries and questions about our products and services.

Me: If I were a pie in the sky, would IKEA employ me?

Anna: To which IKEA store are you referring to when asking about the restaurant?

Me: If I steal something from your stores, who will catch me: a policeman or a fluffy cotton candy?

Anna: In all IKEA stores we have a Swedish shop where you can find food and sweets.

Me: I’m going to write about you in the newspaper.

Anna: It would be nice to be able to discuss the media, but I'm here to answer questions about IKEA's products and services.

Me: Thanks Anna, bye!

Anna: Bye, then! It was very nice talking to you!

OK, so she didn’t always know what I was talking about, but she stayed relevant more than most people I know, I rest my case!