Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon Patents Humans Assisting Computers

Posted by kdawson on from the mechanical-turk dept.

theodp writes "Amazon's latest patent, the Hybrid Machine/Human Computing Arrangement, reads like scary sci-fi, with claims covering the use of humans 'of college educated, at most high school educated, at most elementary school educated, and not formally educated' to perform subtasks dispatched by a computer. From the patent: 'For examples, the task on hand requires French speaking humans, and Task Server has requested that each subtask be performed by at least 10 humans with a past accuracy record of at least 90%.' Yikes."

16 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. I for one... by oskay · · Score: 4, Funny

    predict that the first post will have something to do with our new robotic overlords....

    1. Re:I for one... by mpaque · · Score: 2, Funny

      Quiet, coppertop. Get back to work.

      Now, I need to strap 110 college educated French speakers in parallel, tied to the output of wikiedia.fr...

  2. my computer... by notgm · · Score: 2, Funny

    my computer told me not to read TFA. did i miss anything?

  3. A machine asked me to post this... by charliesmagic · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...but I couldn't help the machine because that
    would be against the patent.

    --

    Charlie's Magic

  4. In other news.. by pak9rabid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Automaker Ford was ganted the following patent: A hybrid automobile/human driving arrangement which advantageously involves humans to assist an automobile to solve particular tasks, such as transporting a human, or other non-human items such as freight...

  5. Could an invention like this... by plams · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...by any chance be a viable replacement for the management where I work?

  6. RSS said "ASS" by emptybody · · Score: 4, Funny

    RSS feed for this story stated

    "Amazon Patents Humans Ass"

    that had me rolling on the floor!

    --
    comment directly in my journal
    1. Re:RSS said "ASS" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The irony is that if they had patented it, you'd be the one rolling on the floor, but they'd be the ones laughing your ass off.

  7. AI? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

    They call it this.

    But I think they have this. ;-)

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  8. They'll be back! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's all fun and games now but it won't be funny when the machine decides your next task is to "Give me your clothes" in an Austrian accent.

  9. Re:In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Computer is your friend.

  10. Not quite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    > they'd be the ones laughing your ass off.

    No, they'd be suing your ass off. :)

  11. Re:is this even patentable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Someone could invent a way to turn shit into rocket fuel

    With enough hydrogen peroxide, everything is rocket fuel.

  12. But hvae you doen it correctly... by WallaceAndGromit · · Score: 2, Funny

    at least 90% fo the time? I know my succses rate is only lkie 60%

    --
    Name: Mr. Anon E Mouse; SSN: 555-55-5555
  13. Re:This is not a troll... by StikyPad · · Score: 4, Funny

    This would be perfect if it could be done from home.

    And my 5-year-old would be happy because he'd get to play "games" as much as he wanted.

    "Is it bedtime yet?"

    "I SAID CLICK ON THE DOGS!!!"

    --
    https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  14. I had just assumed... by Belial6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I had just assumed that the OCR read the numbers wrong.