Slashdot Mirror
Executive Secretary In Every Computer
An anonymous reader writes "BusinessWeek Online just ran an interview with a researcher from Sandia National labs whose team has developed an alternative approach to artificial intelligence. They have come up with a software program that models a computer user's behavior and gives the user advice, corrects his errors or saves files according to the user's own logic. The idea is for computers to learn how to use with users -- instead of vice versa. The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers."
gives the user advice, corrects his errors or saves files
His name is Clippy, and I hate him.
Mike
But I don't want an air traffic controller working out how best to serve me :)
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Sounds suspiciously like Microsoft Bob's cousin, Botheration Steve.
I'll believe it after FORD endorses an electrical car, or we finally get our hovercars.
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
"It looks like you're trying to land a plane. Would you like lunch?"
"It looks like you're trying to talk to a pilot. Would you like to write a letter to him?"
"It look like you're trying to turn me off. Dave. Don't do that Dave."
Whoah, Glad they tested it with air traffic controllers first. I wouldn't want any drastic mistakes or anything to happen that might send a plane into the ground.. or anything.
- Yes please.
- No, I do not need help landing planes.
- No, and don't show Crashy again.
Click here for other automated flight controller assistants.I want to force it to always save to the mapped E: drive... not where the user wants to save it.
The biggest problem is the user that saves things willy-nilly, relies on editing a spreadsheet in an email and never saves it specifically, etc....
Unless it can be told to force certian behaivoir upon the user to be in line with corperate requirements.... I dont see it as useful and more of another PITA app that makes my life more difficult as a Net/sys admin
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
What great advice could this program really give?
program: "hey you! don't crash the planes!"
program: "Gee, you haven't saved this file in a really long time, and there's a t-storm on the way... nah."
program: "Sunshine, happy thoughts and rainbows, lolli-pops!"
(ATC's have the highest suicide rate of like any job)
stuff |
"HAL, get me some coffee please."
"Sorry Dave, we're all out of dark roast."
"HAL, I'm not going to argue with you, I need some coffee!"
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What happens when the user is a sick, twisted and sadistic person. Will the computer adapt to that kind of user?
Great, so now Technical Support / Helpdesk staff will have to learn the individual way everyone's PC is deciding to work when talking people through how to do things !
on a serious note, just having word and excel has replaced many thousands of secretaries already. can anyone out there say that typing is solely a clerical skill like it was 20 years ago?
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
But if the program mimics its users logic does that mean that we will have tech support being called by computers for stupid reasons?
I was thinking about this this very morning, about how my computer should know that I am trying to save a file with a given extension or content and default to a certain directory.
Of course, the annoyance would start when you change your way of doing something, or the computer pre-empts an action which you don't intend to do - You'd have to spend time fixing such problems and wait while the computer re-trains itself.
Sure enough, the article doesn't mention these problems, and how they would be avoided or overcome.
codegolf.com - smaller *is* better.
Probable would work sort of like this.
Mr clippy
--
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
"They have come up with a software program that models a computer user's behavior and gives the user advice, corrects his errors or saves files according to the user's own logic"
This assumes to luser has logic.
"As a writer / novelist you might want to spellcheck your sig.
We had enough of a headache handling just two executive secretaries(NEVER piss off She Who Presents Things To Be Signed By God). Now we're gonna have 50 of 'em?
On the plus side, this will save a lot of marriages, since The Boss won't have an affair with the computer, get it pregnant, and run off with it to the cayman islands. So maybe it is a good thing...
Please help metamoderate.
Does that mean that when my mom calls me up for tech support that I'll have to teach her and her computer where the any key is?
Photos.
Not exactly comforting, if you ask me! I expect air traffic controllers to know their systems and how to use them. What happens when this software has learned to compensate for one traffic controller's particular errors, and then suddenly another traffic controller takes over his/her station?
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
Helpful software everywhwre? Sweet Jesus!
It's almost as bad as the polite elevators ("Which floor would you like to go to today") in the HHGTTG.
Software should be like God made it: rude, difficult, and flaky. The users need their daily dosage of pain and whom are we to deny this to them? It's the endorphins, man!
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Where's the office comedy going to go without a sassy (often latino, to spice things up) secretary? If windows starts sassing me or using a big thick fake accent, I'm fdisking.
Was it just me or did anyone else think that the last question:
"Q: This project makes me think of The Matrix -- where machines run the world and humans are slaves to the machines. Isn't this technology a move in that direction?"
was a tad melodramatic? I can't even be bothered to start to take the piss out of this kind of sloppy, recycled-thinking journalism.
evil math within Nature's Cubic Creation!
" The idea is for computers to learn how to use with users -- instead of vice versa. "
can someone put that in a "in soviet russia" joke ? I tried but I was too confused.
08:08 AM -- It looks like you're browsing /. /. ... /. ...
Would you like me to refresh the site 10 times a second to give you a few fr1st p05ts?
09:17 AM -- It looks like you're browsing
Again.
Would you like me to answer your phone and tell everyone that you are in a meeting?
09:45 AM -- It looks like you're browsing
Again.
Would you like me to call your wife and tell her you are working late?
And so on...
What, me Tweet?
This isn't an alternative to artificial intelligence as the poster claims. It's a form of computer learning and adapting to information. That's AI.
Developers: We can use your help.
in common with some secretaries, the computer will use its knowledge of its master's foibles to manipulate its 'master'? It'll start with convincing you to buy overpriced fund raising chocolates, then move onto presents for the staff, buy that new software that will make your life easier (written by the same company that wrote the secretary, of course), and so on. I can hear the marketroids salivating already.
How can I dress up my cybersecretary in a miniskirt and silk blouse?
This is just a reinvention of that damn paperclip.
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
What exactly about what they describe is a NEW APPROACH to ai? This is an auto-complete gone out of control. To assume that a software program can understand what a human is thinking, isn't that the same as saying the software program can think like a human.
If something goes wrong we can sell our stock and get out of the country while they take a year or two to determine the cause of the crash.
I'm glad we're expanding our intellectual range with artificial intellegence and have things automated for us so we have to think less. But isn't this what Microsoft is doing to the world right now with their software. Do we really want our life to be automatically configured for us by a programmer so that we sit back and burn the rest of our brain cells? (I would expect a lot of yeses)
Ok, let's say someone posts some UUE encoded harmful executable in a post on slashdot. This 'artifiical inteligence' recognizes this and makes the decision to decode it and run it. BOOM! You've got the blaster worm again.
Support Israeli punk bands. Man Alive.
A: One application is an intelligence agent, looking at data coming from many databases. Another application is where you'd have a robot that would record its experiences, so that at some point it could say, "Oh, I saw something like this before and this is what I did, and this is what happened."
These things can't come soon enough.
End of line
Remember oliver, the electronic personality extender predicted by Alvin Toffler in "Future Shock"
There's an interesting passage about olivers in John Brunner's excellent novel, "The Shockwave Rider":
"... so-called olivers, electronic alter-egos designed to save the owner the strain of worrying about all his person-to-person contacts. A sort of twenty-first-century counterpart to the ancient Roman nomenclator, who discreetly whispered data into the ear of the emperor and endowed him with the reputation of a phenomenal memory." (pp. 41-42)
-kgj
Great, now the percentage of women working in tech companies will go from 15% down to 2%. Good job, ass.
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
The Ghost in Your Machine
Quite eye-opening, I thought those're little midget or two who produce such weird noise in my case.
Eureka, they are ghosts!
- Arwen, I'm your father, Agent Smith.
- Well, you're just Smith, but my father is Aerosmith!
"The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers." Nice, safe place they found to beta test their stuff. Something going wrong there is not going to cause any trouble, right?
Perhaps not... The response was just Forsythe's politically correct attempt to cover up his fury at his latest "turn-the-humans-into-slaves-of-the-computers" plan being blown wide open by that question. And by a reporter named 'Olga', no less. Whew. Close one.
---------- It tingles because it's working.
What good is a secretary that isn't cute, blonde and chasable around your desk?
Wired News has a similar article. Maybe you could just combine the new AI with the cute exterior ofClippy. On the other hand side it would be interesting how much space you have to allocate for the AI database. as far as i remember A.L.I.C.E. needed a quite large AIML file to be just somewhat intelligent. If now the computer should also remeber patterns in behavior and not just talk to you (Alice is a pure chatbot) then in my opinion you need quite large amounts of data to be stored. This could be useful for larger companies with a dedicated AI Server to help their employees (if we talk about AI in a network, why not call ist SKYNET), but on a normal desktop? I think that's too much.
./ today, normally syou surf it for ours during work. Can I help you get there?"
And to focus on another problem: if this thing learns about you behavior, don't you mind about your privacy? We are all paranoid about cookies and other spyware, and then some people actually want us to deliberatly install it? Just imagine: Your boss next to you because you want to show something to him and then the computer asks: "Hi XY, you haven't visited
".Sig Stealer" was here
here is the wired article about it. It's basically 2 pages of "This technology is nothing like Clippy."
Ok they want to turn the equation around so that the computer has to learn you, not you learn about computers, what happens when it breaks?
The whole things sounds like well written spy ware. The last thing I need is a process on my machine trying to figure out my habits and *perhaps* rebort that behavior to some other place/person. No, thank you. If the user is not able to remember to save files, or map drives, or whatever other crap this things tries to help with, maybe they shouldn't be using a computer. Or better yet, maybe they should learn the proper way to use their machine, rather than relying on a peice of software. Er, uhm, crutchware? It's obvious I'm not trolling either, because the privacy implications were mentioned in the article. Unfortunately it was a politicians answer with now substance; so I still have my doubts.
"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs" - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
I'm already pretty familiar with my tendency to misspell stuff etc...and I don't need another clippy (hell, none of us do)
How about something potentially more useful, like a system that gently prompts you to save files using a certain naming convention, or helps tell you where to file certin documents, how to format email headers to make them useful etc....all according to a certain policy. Such a system could conceivably help organize documents consistenly for later retrieval; it would also facilitate more efficient brute-force searching (ala a google appliance or whatnot).
Information retrival (and I'm talking business related stuff) is made most simple when said information is filed and named consistently.
From personal experience, people in our company routinely spend quite a bit of time searching for historical company documents (ie how much did we pay for suchandsuch material last time? What did we bill the client? How big was that convention centre? what were their rates? Etc).
Sure, we have a filing policy and naming conventions in effect, but educating the users to use the system (and use it well...if at all) is surprisingly difficult.
Of course, I am also familiar with Edward's Law "You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem".
No sig.
I'm wondering how you debug something meant to act human (who are unpredictable).
And just because you debug it with a crowd of number "X" using it, will that be relevant to a larger population?
I wonder if it'd be possible to do some TiVO-like exchange of data here as a voluntary option. Try to train the applications with larger data stories, at least for a time.
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
I once quit a job I had, but hated by telling my manager I was off to Vancouver to work in the "Cobotics" industry... "What's that?", he asked me. It's a new feild that tries to solve the problems of humans interactions with robots and computers. "Oh?" He was interested now. "Yes there are great things happening in that industry and I'm going to get on board while it's hot" I told him, never letting onm that I was going to work at a starbucks (also a blossoming industry on the West Coast at the time. "Let me book you a flight" he said, apparently trying to call my bluff. "Sure", I allowed, "I leave in the morning". Little did I know know...
I went to battle MC Escher, but drew a blank
... the kinds of research we're currently doing in user interfaces for the digital musical instrument market, actually.
... never mind ...
Oops. Can't go into it any further just yet
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
In soviet russia, Versa Vice!
;)
Not what you were expecting?
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
One of my worries about this, is that thinking and understanding is the domain of people and number crunching and data processing is the domain of computers. ... and until computers have true free will it will always be that way, and always should be that way ...
IMHO, we shouldn't be concentrating on how to get computers to think for us, but rather how to interface in a way that is lociclly fluent and consistent.
Perhaps that might mean that people half to learn to think more locgically and be ble to express it more precicely, but IMHO that is not a bad thing.
DIY AI (Do-It-Yourself Artificial Intelligence) is now available to provide AI Minds for these "Executive Secretaries" in a growing list of programming languages: :-) :-)
KurzweilAI.net is a hotbed of discussion of the evolution and speciation of AI Minds for "Executive Secretaries" and other robots.APL;
JAVA (see code-link #001
Labview;
Lisp;
Perl;
Python;
Visual Basic (see link #001
The Technological Singularity of Vernor Vinge is happening right here and now -- all around you.
Please mod up this message as high as it deserves. If you doubt the AI Mind meme, please see
ACM SIGPLAN Notices: Mind.Forth AI paper by Dr. Paul Frenger;
Concept-Fiber Theory of Mind review by Ben Goertzel, Ph.D.
Every Slashdot-reading programmer ought seriously to consider dropping all other activities and joining the AI Revolution adumbrated in this SlashDot article on Executive Secretaries with AI.
A story about government research gone horribly wrong, releasing a new terror upon the world.
"The Return of Clippy"
Opens October 13.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
There's no stopping the technological march. Still, most researchers are very conscientious about the ethical ramifications of what we are doing.
Yeah, and still scientists note the ethical ramifications and still continue down questionable paths. Many scientists don't concern themselves enough with ethics.
Tsuyoikoto ha taisetsu da ne, dakedo namida mo hitsuyousa (Strength is an important thing, but tears too are necessary)
"some fear that the concept suggests an ominous encroachment out of a sci-fi movie. Cognitive psychologist Chris Forsythe, who leads the Sandia team, insists that the machines are designed to augment -- not replace -- human activity.
This sort of writing is the result of either a sensational and poorly informed writer, or a company hyping its product way beyond its capabilities. AI has not even reached the Bronze Age yet, and the idea that a concept like this threatens to make humans obsolete is laughable.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
"learn how to use with users"
/.
Huh?
another fine editting moment, brought to you by the fine folks at
Someone needs to help correct all the mistakes the humans, I mean, that we, have been making.
And a little advice never hurt anyone right? Oh, that file being saved called nuclear override and command codes? Ignore that..I'm sure it's just a typo.
Sincerely,
Skynet
Its an interesting read.
Great. So now computers will "learn" to be as stupid as the users.
I want my computers to present me with clear and unambiguous output. In return, I will give them as much unambiguous input needed to get the job done. Save the "clever" AI for Doom 3 and let me get back to work.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
>>The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers.
Why did they bother testing it with air traffic controllers when they could have launched it straight onto some low-risk industry, like nuclear power? (Then again maybe we don't want software imitating Homer Simpson's logic.)
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
One nice thing about a good secretary or a personal friend is they will realize when they become annoying and tune themselves down. I think it is essential for this kind of software. Giving advice constantly will inevitably lead to wrong and/or unwanted advice at one point.
ato
Well air traffic controllers might not be needing this software because they are going to be
replaced anyway.
It's one of my least-favorite features of MS Office 2000 and newer, and of XP: The hiding of menus and toolbar buttons you don't normally use.
I'm visually oriented, and if a menu or button moves or disappears, it makes it much harder to find other things around it by their previous relative position. Now I imagine that eventually, it'll settle out into my common pattern, until one week I have to use Thesaurus four times, and it's back for a while, or I decide to use the "Format Painter" or anything else seldomly used.
What it does is make the hard things even harder, because you won't know where to look for them. This isn't entirely an MS fault: the open source office programs have very similar menu and toolbar layouts, which aren't always grouped logically, or at least not by the logic of someone actually editing documents.
As Woody Leonhard likes to point out, the Microsoft Office toolbars are designed for marketing demonstrations: All the cool features are visible, but many of the ones you need daily are buried on subsidiary toolbars.
Design for Use, not Construction!
I can't have a secretary in my computer. I can't jack off looking at porns when a female is in my computer...
I can also foresee TIVO-style confusion about your interests. If you get a lot of spam, is your computer secretary going to start fetching the latest goatse.cx offerings every morning?
And if so, can it sue you for sexual harassment?
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe by three o'clock... with nail polish."
your computer was just turned on. Would you like to...
A. Porn
B. Slashdot
We'll just end up double-guessing a computer that's doing its demented best at double-guessing us.
yes, we have no bananas
So they tested this technology with air traffic controllers to determine if it was safe to implement for PHBs. I believe I would have chosen a different test group.
who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
(your wife trying to use your computer) 16:56 PM -- Good Afternoon HOT STUD...it looks like you're browsing the internet, would you like to continue RESEARCHING the topic of GENITAL DOCKING PROCEDURES OR AFRO WHORES?
It looks like you're trying to land an airplane!
Would you like to find out...
Too late to be known as Bush the First, he's sure to be known as Bush the Worst.
It should do well, as long as they don't call it Bob.
---
Lousy rotten karmic retribution.
The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers
When, in September 2001?
"I notice you are doing a homework assignment that you already did exactly 1 year ago. Did you by chance fail your class? May I suggest an alternate answer for question number 3, as the results from last year indicate that your current answer is incorrect?"
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
You could also direct it by voice command. I had this program back in the day, heady stuff at the time.
Here's a pile of other stuff on Software Assistants.
...that was originally told about Hollywood types, but can be adapted to IT quite easily.
OK, so this IT company is having its annual retreat somewhere out in the desert, and an engineer and a marketdroid get into an argument about something. They wander off into the desert, and are so into it that they don't realize that they're walking directly into a sandstorm until it's too late. They stumble around blindly, and by the time the sandstorm lets up, they're completely lost.
A few hours later, the sun's directly overhead, vultures are circling, and the two are on their knees, begging God to save them and promising to lead virtuous lives if they could just get something to drink--and *ping*, there's a pitcher of ice-cold beer sitting on a rock. The engineer staggers forward, croaking "We're saved!"
The marketdroid holds him back and strokes his chin, saying "No, wait--the color's all wrong. Tell you what, let me piss in it first to make it look better."
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.
The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers."
Please excuse my ignorance, but are air traffic controllers who we want beta testing new software?
- behaivoir
- corperate
Maybe you shouldn't be so quick to insult the intelligence of your users.You fucking idiot!!!
In their prototype they say 9 out of 10 times, the computer interprets situations the way the user does. This is after a "cognitive model" of the user's behavior has been built to start with. The M.O. is to abet the user's typical process, not to instruct her or him in how to "use a computer" -- it isn't clippy in any sense, though we've had a few posts about how ATCs shouldn't have to be "taught" this way. The idea is:
In such a system, how close is a 90% score to useful? Seems like a potential distraction at that rate of failure, but the article isn't clear about what that 90% really means...
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
That's a lot more appealing from a marketing point of view than the alternative way of looking at it:
Air Traffic Tammy: "Roger delta foxtrot bravo niner, continue on that glide path."
Clippy2: "It looks like you're writing a letter! Do you want help with that?"
Air Traffic Tammy: "The hell? Get off my screen, you piece of crap!"
Clippy2: "It sounds like you're becoming tired and snippy! Do you want me to take over?"
Air Traffic Tammy: "Shut up! Get off the screen! Exit! Undo! Quit!"
Clippy2: "I landed that plane for you! In the lake, right?"
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Can it bring me a good cup of coffee?
When VCR's are outlawed, only outlaws will have VCR's.
Does that mean lip-reading?
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
2 Retnus Monkey's & one of these could probably be taught to do most of my job. I just hope the fecus throwing monkeys don't start to rub off on my E-Sec.
--"Sorry for the inconvience." Gods Last Words to his Creation
DNA, So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
The next killer app, in my opinion, is the application that allows you to not only save content, but also the context
This already exists. It's called The Brain and it's a replacement for standard filesystem browsers. It lets you file and browse anything (files, websites, binaries, etc...) and make your own interconnections between any objects based on your own [twisted] logic.
I've wanted to try it, but it's Windows-only. I've thought about building a simple MySQL app that does something similar, but it wouldn't have the cool 3D Java/ActiveX/whatever object browser that's mocked up on the front page of their website.
Do people REALLY think this will work for a day to day user? I think not...this simply is another layer of fog in between you and the operating system that very well may not match your needs/wants. Personally, I prefer to know exactly where I place files...it kind of helps with knowing where they are. Also, pop-ups are annoying...no matter what form they come in they always get in your way somehow. What if a user changes his habits? That means the software no longer is working for, but against you. What if someone else jumps on your computer for a day while you are out sick? It will merge some of their habits with yours...creating more crap to deal with.
Really, this is similar to adding another abstraction layer into software...another source of error, except in this example...its definitely prone to error...causing myself and countless other admins/software engineers lots and lots of headaches.
Rather than working to make computers use with the users...which is ass-backwards, creating all sorts of nasty problems IMO...how about we make users learn to use the technology properly...like it should be?
I should also note that there are several bottlenecks with implementing this accross all software, since all software works in different ways...that means each developer will have to write this 'AI' crap into it...I don't know about other developers..but I say hell no to more cruft.
Humans are not predictable enough in their habits for something like this to work...even the same person changes their habits over time...which will make keeping up with what data is where even more difficult.
Thanks but....I think I'll pass on this one.
/* sig */
analysts analyze, and managers manage, do secretaries secrete?
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Do I have to adress my computer as Secretary now?
...is anyone else nervous they are using Air Traffic Controllers to test software?
As it has been pointed out, the concept of an intelligent computer assistant is not new. In addition to the other projects mentioned, Sony is working on a project they call the "Sensing Computer", a PDA-sized device that will contain a software agent that will memorize your data and your usage patterns in everything from your passwords to your friends names and birthdays to your favorite ice cream, and will prompt you when you need info and/or are dealing with the world around you.
Darpa is working on a project under its total information awareness program called "lifelog", where a computer model will be developed of your likes, dislikes, behavior patterns, and everythign about you so that a computer model can be built. This model could then be used to predict behavior or spotlight devations from the norm that may indicate criminal or terrorist activity. Kind of like a predicitive "Big Brother" AI. If this technology comes to pass, it will make Orwell's nightmare look like a shopping mall in comparison.
Read a preview of my novel CYBERCHILD at www.smartalix.com/cyberchild
Why are companies investing millions and millions of dollars on research on things like this instead of just making easier software to use? It's like inventing a special gizmo to turn your computer off when all you need to do is to unplug the cable.
Sometimes humanity worry me.
What's so bad about being lazy? What if there was a war and nobody showed up?
"hmmm"
...and it had better separate users... "um...timmy...why don't you use mom's computer for your school report...dad's is...um...yeah, use mom's"
[click]
(popup) "you did NOT want to click there--trust me"
that could be a life-saver, but it had better has hell work right. i don't want clippy randomly popping up with:
"it appears you are trying to view morbidly obese gay midget S & M. perhaps you would like to view these images..."
"GAAAA!!!! Undo! Undo!"
technology does have its ugly side.
char *mySig;
The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers.
This is a great place to test new software, isn't it? I wonder what the implications would be if the computer "guesses" wrong. Like what if the computer figured out that I am a screw-up, so it scheduled two planes to land on the same runway at once just to save me the trouble?
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
Yeah, this was obviously written by somebody who has never BEEN an Executive Secretary (or administrative assistant or whatever). You try telling your boss that what he wants today is EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what he wanted last week and see how far it gets you. In order to REALLY bury your job be sure to keep notes and feed his own words back to him.
we leave that up to the microsoft code writers.
Dave, I noticed you opened up the cd tray, would you like some coffee?
Dave, I don't have an any key.
Dave, your boss has sent an email, should I make it look like you replied afer normall working hours?
Dave, I noticed several banners and pop-ups, so I click on them for you.
Dave, Based on the web sites you visit, I have ordered you some penis enlargement pills.
Dave, I just made you rich by emails the Minister of Finances widow your bank account.
Dave, Based on your emails, I ordered you a package from Hormel.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Just about every afternoon, I stop by the beachside pool for an hour of laps. Entrance costs $1.50. I always hand over a $5. I always get $4.50 back. Explaining the situation doesn't help since there's the language, age and progressive barriers with the clerk. I'm in a wheelchair and the few times I've tried to mention that I got too much change, she smiles and says, "ok." So whatever...GRACIAS!
Laws are for people with no friends.
Will the artificial intelligence become bitter and spiteful like human technical support? Will the computer evetually yell at the user one day, and get fired, go on a leave of absence, or quit, just like real tech support does after being in the job too long?
In other words, will there be Post Technical Support Disorder built into the AI?
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
Dave... I've noticed you're browsing one-handed again... I think you'll find the tissues in that drawer there...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
The software has already been tested with air traffic controllers.
Clippy: It looks like your trying to land a plane...
And in related news: Plane with two crew members crashes off Cape Cod
Tom the Sigless
It looks like a 747 is about to crash. Would you like to...
Go hug some trees.
The vast majority of what is happening on the "bleeding edge" is happening at places other than Microsoft.
Haven't we seen enough of this, "I know better than you about what you want to do?" Doesn't anyone find it DUMB that you have to TELL the software that you want the first letter of a word to be lower-case (because you wanted it lower-case, and you typed it lower-case, but it decides that you really wanted it to be upper-case)? This software may work for truly clueless users, but I think it will be nothing but an annoyance for those with even moderate computer skills.
It should be spelt with 'ra' instead of 'li'...
Thanks to our software, when you stop the simulation and ask the computer and the operator, "What do you think is going on right now?" about 90% of the time you get the same answer from both. Such a computer could alert the operator to a problem the operator hasn't picked up on yet.
So 90% of the time they could both be wrong OR 10% of the time they'd be bickering. And this improves the system how? OK, maybe it's cheaper to marry the software but I don't see how it improves air traffic control.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
You can read the original press release from Sandia National Labs.
There is also a list of the researcher's publications. If that link doesn't work, try seaching for "Forsythe, James Chris" as author alphabetical at the Sandia Technical Library. Many of his papers are available as PDF online from that site.
--Tim
The reporter needs to do more research before writing an article.
There are no specifications on the program that they wish to make. There are no descriptions of how they wish to do it. Basically this everything is hot air.
Have we learned nothing from TRON? A Master Control Program is destined to gain superintelligence in an attempt to control all of the world's computers, and how would you like that?
Well lets just hope that they are screening the aircraft controllers like they are everything else in the airport.
We wouldn't want the computer to tell a terrorist in disguise how to better crash the planes together now would we?
You're nothing; like me.
Your sig link returns funky php errors...
Oh, I'd say AI that lands a plane is killer app enough for anyone.
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
This is an intelligent agent that quickly figures out your preferences in pr0n, and then downloads them for you! Thus freeing up your hands for, er, other things!
Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia were all built for the A-bomb program. With that project complete a generation ago, they've ended up as senior activity centers for aging physicists. The results obtained are small compared to the size of the operations. At least two of those centers should be closed.
NASA has the same problem. NASA's real mission was completed 30 years ago, and they've been running on empty ever since. NASA has too many centers, and is really just a pork program, like farm subsidies.
Both of these dead-end organizations eat up resources that would be better expended via the National Science Foundation. Young, smart people don't go to Sandia or Los Alamos, and haven't since the 1960s.
We need research centers, but we need to kill off some of the deadwood.
Millions of dollars in avoided sexual harrassment lawsuits, just by having geeks do all their own typing!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
and that same answer is: Operator: "I think the computer is fucked up!" Computer: "I think I fucked up!" Yep, same answer!
Learned Activity: "I've noticed you share a lot of music online." Learned Response: "I'll automatically go get your subpoena for you online. :-)"
Let's just make sure the RIAA doesn't program this thing.
Dammit! I said 'Delete the #$%^&! file!
I'm sorry Dave, I can't allow you to do that.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball
The idea is for computers to learn how to use with users -- instead of vice versa.
.... Ok, then just double click on "My Computer".
::click::
I can just imagine tech support phone calls:
Tech: Ok, now tap Ctrl-Esc to bring up your start menu.
Customer: Oh... I usually don't do that.
Tech: Ok then, just click on it with your mouse.
Customer: My start menu dissappeared because I never click on it.
Tech: Then what DO you do?
Customer: Oh I forget... Apple-Shift-V? Wait... no...
Tech:
Customer: Oh! That! I usually just pound on the left side of my keyboard until it comes up, but I broke it yesterday so I only have the mouse. But I never used my mouse before to do that so moving it just shuts down my computer.
Tech:
...and it depends on how it's done.
Say *you* (not Clippy) want to automate a repetitive task, but do not want to learn how to program it. You could put the program in "learn mode" right when you are in the middle of this repetitive task. From time to time you would check to see if Clippy has learnt how to execute that task properly. At that point you would let it do the rest.
Once the task is finished, you could either "unlearn" the task, keep it in Clippy's database, or just plain disable Clippy.
"In our tactical decisions, we are operating contrary to our strategic interest."
Death to stupid designs
Back in 1999, I downloaded a copy of CyberSecretary for my windows machine. It was really cool. I even had a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking and could actually speak to my CyberSecretary to do little useful chores for me. It even had a very simple built-in scripting language to extend it's capabilities. I thought it was great. My girlfriend even got jealous...she thought I had another girlfriend named Cheryl(the CyberSecretary's name).
I haven't used it in years, but it sure was a great useful little program -- it would be neat to have a linux version of the program. I think I'll download it again to see if it's still as cool.
I always felt guilty for not purchasing a licence for it -- the cyber secretary asks if I would like to register her (with a hopeful, expectant look in her eyes). :-(
When I click no, she gives me this sad pouty face and says something like "You don't think I'm worth paying for?...Oh...O.K" Gee...made me feel so guilty.
If MS used CyberSecretary instead of their stupid Clippy...MS Office and Outlook would probably be considered "cool" today.
The goddamn computer gives me too much backtalk already. I can't stand when a program tries to make decisions for me or prompt me with what it thinks is correct behaviour.
Just delete the file and stop asking for confirmation!
Yes, I want to overwrite that file!
No, I don't want to register!
No, I am not interested in special offers!
No, I don't want to change my password now!
No, I am not writing a goddamn letter!
Yes, I want to play global thermonuclear warfare!
Just downloaded it again...just as I remembered...Cheryl hasn't aged a bit. :-)
Executive Secretary Instructions for Postal Workers: "No! No! No! You need to use short bursts when gunning downing fellow employees."
I don't want an executive secretary in my computer...I want an INTERN under my DESK.
It should track all my contacts, all my phone numbers, all email or instant messenger communication with everyone I know. It should track who is on vacation, when birthdays are for my contacts or their families. For important people in my list it should automatically order cards and/or flowers to be delivered to them on special occassions.
It should track my appointments and I should just be able to tell it, please schedual an appointment with bob n. and it will work with my schedual and bob's digital assistant to work out a time to meet.
It should cross reference all my files in an index so that things can be found in a dozen ways.
It should answer all my calls and send most people into voice mail.
Just before a meeting with someone I should get full details about that person on my screen so that I can take 20 seconds and get upto speed on them. After the meeting I should be able to make a few notes or add a few to do's and store it in context with the meeting.
It should present me with a to-do list every morning and produce a weekly report of everything that I have accomplished.
It should know the distinction between work and home and screen callers accordingly. I.E. Good luck for a business associate to call me on the weekend, unless I have them also marked as a personal friend.
And all this should be available from any computer that has a connection to the internet.
Oh yeah, and it should make sure any computer I sit down at has all the desktop preferences matching my needs as possible, same background, same screen saver settings, same password protection on screen saver, same tool bar location, same apps in same place on tool bar, no matter if I am on an apple box, a unix workstation, a linux box or a windows box.
It's called Microsoft Bob. Yeah, MS was really just ahead of their time!
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Here's a more useful cybersecretary.
Looks like the site hasn't been updated in a while.
Would be neat if a Linux version could be developed.
from the less-obvious-duplicates-dept.
"Cognitive Machines Help Decision-Making"
Does this count? The original story, if not the linked article, is the same. Do I get a prize?
The real problem is defining and describing context. Most people won't carefully and meaningfully tag their files, etc, because it's a time-consuming and brain-straining task. That's where AI could shine, if it would only be able to divine such descriptions from context -- with tolerable (near zero) error rate. Maybe in 10-20 years... :-)
Computers make very fast, very accurate mistakes