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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."

2 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. 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...

  2. 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.