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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."
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.
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.
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.
If the technology reaches that stage, then sadly, a legislator somewhere will most likely have insisted it has so-called safeguards to (a) stop it file sharing, (b) 'protect the children' or(c) to 'help' any war on terror still going on at that time.
The upshot being your software's safeguards recognise you are a sick and twisted soul and the program informs on you (can you imagine Outlook flashing up a box saying "I'm sorry, Dave, but I have decided to report your activities to the police because you are a terrorist"?).
Total Information Awareness by the back door, eh? And then you could even have some country decides to use the software safeguards to predict whether a user is a political dissident...
Maybe you can't stop the march of technology (as he says in the article), but you could direct it with a little more forethought.
"This is why men never share their feelings; because women always remember." -Just Shoot Me.
"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?
These days, *handwriting* is becoming a clerical skill. Some places have already stopped teaching kids handwriting in lower grades, and rely on computers instead. Heck, some "new adults" have problems filling out a cheque, because it requires a line of handwriting!
Also, the new generation is generally unable to do simple math, and *requires* the cash register AI to tell not only how much cash to return to the customer, but which coins. If they don't have this luxury, they struggle.
(I often buy breakfast at McDonalds, for $3.70. More often than not, I get three dimes in return instead of a quarter and a nickel.)
My prediction is that the trend will continue, and the more advanced everyday AI becomes, the more people will rely on AI instead of skills and reasoning. Today's kids might not know what 12x12 is, but tomorrow's kids will have problems with a doorknob, as they'll be used to doors opening by AI.
Regards,
--
*Art
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
You'd have to wonder why these researchers would even believe that using neural networks or whatever form of AI they come up with will even work, when not even a real human person sitting next to me working on the same program or document can accurately anticipate my needs...
Software Error. Of course a document opened from Outlook should be ... READ ONLY ...
... and it was exactly that. It's a serious software and usability flaw in Outlook - and although you can train users to avoid it the real fix is to correct the error in the software.
Yes, my Mom lost a lot of work she had put into making revisions to a document sent to her by a coworker. She called me up and explained how she had done
it's in my head
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.
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.