Chatbot Tay Calls into Question Intelligence of Software
June 30, 2016
Chatbots are providing something alright. These days it’s more like entertainment. Venture Beat shared an article highlighting the latest, Microsoft’s Tay chatbot comes back online, says it’s ‘smoking kush’ in front of the police. Tay, the machine-learning bot, was designed to “be” a teenage girl. Microsoft’s goal with it was to engage followers of a young demographic while simultaneously learning how to engage them. The article explains,
“Well, uh, Microsoft’s Tay chatbot, which got turned off a few days ago after behaving badly, has suddenly returned to Twitter and has started tweeting to users like mad. Most of its musings are innocuous, but there is one funny one I’ve come across so far. “i’m smoking kush infront the police,” it wrote in brackets. Kush is slang for marijuana, a drug that can result in a fine for possession in the state of Washington, where Microsoft has its headquarters. But this is one of hundreds of tweets that the artificial intelligence-powered bot has sent out in the past few minutes.”
Poised by some sources as next-generation search, or a search replacement, chatbots appear to need a bit of optimization, to put it lightly. This issue occurred when the chatbot should have still been offline undergoing testing, according to Microsoft. But when it was only offline because of learning bullying and hate speech from trolls who seized on the nature of its artificial intelligence programming. Despite the fact it is considered AI, is this smart software? There is a little important something called emotional intelligence.
Megan Feil, June 30, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Microsoft LinkedIn: A Social Clippy Ahead?
June 15, 2016
I don’t pay too much attention to Microsoft. Once one of my Windows 7 machines morphed into Windows 10 and killed my video editing system, I learned to love the Apple. I did read the story “Microsoft Buying LinkedIn For $26.2 Billion Cash In Its Biggest Acquisition To Date” in the capitalist tool.
Fresh from its success in mobile phones, Microsoft is embracing professional social networking. LinkedIn is a wonderful tool for those who are looking for work, people who want to create a billboard for themselves read by other LinkedIn users, and individuals who are LinkedIn thought leaders.
I assume that the story is indeed accurate. My thought is that lucky users of Microsoft Word will have a way to include LinkedIn information in a document. What could be better than slipping in one’s LinkedIn profile when one creates a memo to one’s boss?
The write up states:
LinkedIn’s shares jumped 48% to $194.55 in pre-market trading on Monday morning in New York, about a buck and a half under the offer price suggesting investors are confident a rival big won’t emerge. Microsoft’s shares declined by 4.2% to $51.48 in pre-market trading.
If the deal goes through, LinkedIn stakeholders may be the winners. No word about the payoff for the intrepid job seekers who make LinkedIn chug along. I hope I can have a live LinkedIn link each time I include a person’s name or a company in a PowerPoint. Would that be annoying? Never just an improvement upon Clippy.
Recode thinks the deal is the org chart “for the whole world.” Hmmm. Whole world? SillyconValley hyperbole maybe? Rio’s slum entrpreneurs? Innovators in Soweto? Nope. it’s a clippy thing.
Stephen E Arnold, June 15, 2016
Google Has Much at Stake in Intel Tax Case
June 3, 2016
In the exciting department of tax activities, 9to5Google reports, “Google Could Effectively Recoup All the Tax it Paid Last Year if Intel Wins Test Case.” Why is Google so invested in a dispute between Intel and the IRS? Writer Ben Lovejoy explains:
“In essence, the case hinges on share compensation packages paid by overseas subsidiaries. The IRS says that the cost of these should be offset against the expenses of the overseas companies; Intel says no, the cost should be deducted by the U.S. parent company – reducing its tax liabilities in its home country. The IRS introduced the rule in 2003. Companies like Google have abided by the rule but reserved the right to reallocate costs if a court ruling went against the IRS, giving them a huge potential windfall.”
This windfall could amount to $3.5 billion for Alphabet, now technically Google’s “parent” company (but really just a reorganized Google). Apparently, according to the Wall Street Journal, at least 20 tech companies, including Microsoft and eBay, are watching this case very closely.
Google is known for paying the fewest taxes it thinks it can get away with, a practice very unpopular with some. We’re reminded:
“Google has recently come under fire for its tax arrangements in Europe, a $185M back-tax deal in the UK being described as ‘disproportionately small’ and possibly illegal. France is currently seeking to claim $1.76B from the company in back taxes.”
So, how much will the world’s tax collectors be able to carve out of the Google revenue pie? I suspect it will vary from year to year, and will keep courts and lawyers around the world very busy.
Cynthia Murrell, June 3, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Amusing Mistake Illustrates Machine Translation Limits
May 12, 2016
Machine translation is not quite perfect yet, but we’ve been assured that it will be someday. That’s the upshot of Business Insider’s piece, “This Microsoft Exec’s Hilarious Presentation Fail Shows Why Computer Translation is so Difficult.” Writer Matt Weinberger relates an anecdote shared by Microsoft research head Peter Lee. The misstep occurred during a 2015 presentation, for which Lee set up Skype Translator to translate his words over the speakers into Mandarin as he went. Weinberger writes:
“Part of Lee’s speech involved a personal story of growing up in a ‘snowy town’ in upper Michigan. He noticed that most of the crowd was enraptured — except for a few native Chinese speakers in the crowd who couldn’t stop giggling. After the presentation, Lee says he asked one of those Chinese speakers the reason for the laughter. It turns out that ‘snowy town’ translates into ‘Snow White’s Town.’ Which seems innocent enough, except that it turns out that ‘Snow White’s town’ is actually Chinese slang for ‘a town where a prostitute lives,’ Lee says. Whoops.
“Lee says it wasn’t caught in the profanity filters because there weren’t actually any bad words in the phrase. But it’s the kind of regional flavor where a direct translation of the words can’t bring across the meaning.”
Whoops indeed. The article notes that another problem with Skype Translator is its penchant for completely disregarding non-word utterances, like “um” and “ahh,” that often carry necessary meaning. We’re reminded, though, that these and other problems are expected to be ironed out within the next few years, according to Microsoft Research chief scientist Xuedong Huang. I wonder how many more amusing anecdotes will arise in the meantime.
Cynthia Murrell, May 12, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Artificial Intelligence Spreading to More Industries
May 10, 2016
According to MIT Technology Review, it has finally happened. No longer is artificial intelligence the purview of data wonks alone— “AI Hits the Mainstream,” they declare. Targeted AI software is now being created for fields from insurance to manufacturing to health care. Reporter Nanette Byrnes is curious to see how commercialization will affect artificial intelligence, as well as how this technology will change different industries.
What about the current state of the AI field? Byrnes writes:
“Today the industry selling AI software and services remains a small one. Dave Schubmehl, research director at IDC, calculates that sales for all companies selling cognitive software platforms —excluding companies like Google and Facebook, which do research for their own use—added up to $1 billion last year. He predicts that by 2020 that number will exceed $10 billion. Other than a few large players like IBM and Palantir Technologies, AI remains a market of startups: 2,600 companies, by Bloomberg’s count. That’s because despite rapid progress in the technologies collectively known as artificial intelligence—pattern recognition, natural language processing, image recognition, and hypothesis generation, among others—there still remains a long way to go.”
The article examines ways some companies are already using artificial intelligence. For example, insurance and financial firm USAA is investigating its use to prevent identity theft, while GE is now using it to detect damage to its airplanes’ engine blades. Byrnes also points to MyFitnessPal, Under Armor’s extremely successful diet and exercise tracking app. Through a deal with IBM, Under Armor is blending data from that site with outside research to help better target potential consumers.
The article wraps up by reassuring us that, despite science fiction assertions to the contrary, machine learning will always require human guidance. If you doubt, consider recent events—Google’s self-driving car’s errant lane change and Microsoft’s racist chatbot. It is clear the kids still need us, at least for now.
Cynthia Murrell, April 10, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Microsoft Says That AI Is Stupid
May 7, 2016
I know there is a difference among:
- What senior managers believe about their minions’ innovations
- What marketers say about the technology the engineer wizards are crafting in the innovation microwave
- What “real” journalists angling for a job with some tailwind write
- What the reality of an innovation is, right now.
But these differences are essentially irrelevant. We are in the era of IBM Watson, Facebook-Google investing in smart software, and big universities doing cartwheels for research which raised nary en eyebrow 18 months ago.
Navigate to “Microsoft Research Chief: AI Is Still Too Stupid to Wipe Us Out (and Will Be for Decades).” I am okay with the notion that smart software is becoming more important. From my vantage point in rural Kentucky, I am aware of the marketing money available to those who would shill smart software. I know about the cash lust of venture outfits who are in search of the next big thing. I am aware that smart software works reasonably well when applied to advertising and Amazon-style recommendations.
I find the use of the word “stupid” interesting. I noted this passage which quotes a Microsoft guru in the artificial intelligence stuff:
“Yes, deep learning has achieved human-level performance in object recognition but what does that mean? It means the machine makes about the same number of errors as the human. “The reason the machine is as good as the human at this is because it can distinguish between 157 varieties of mushroom, whereas it makes all kinds of stupid mistakes that humans wouldn’t make.”
Why comment? Microsoft Tay made evident some flaws. Perhaps IBM Watson avoids public demonstrations like Tay to avoid making weaknesses vivid? Facebook and Google are angling to reduce costs and generate revenue. AI is one path to explore. But “stupid”? Interesting word.
Stephen E Arnold, May 7, 2016
Why the UK Shouldn’t Be Concerned About the Gobbling up of Their Tech Industry
May 5, 2016
The article on MotherBoard titled Why the US Is Buying Up So Many UK Artificial Intelligence Companies surveys the rising tech community in the UK. There is some concern about the recent trend in UK AI and machine learning startups being acquired by US giants (HP and Autonomy, Google and DeepMind, Microsoft and Swiftkey, and Apple and VocalIQ.) It makes sense in terms of the necessary investments and platforms needed to support cutting-edge AI which are not available in the UK, yet. The article explains,
“And as AI increasingly becomes core to many tech products, experts become a limited resource. “All of the big US companies are working on the subject and then looking at opportunities everywhere—“…
Many of the snapped-up UK firms are the fruits of research at Britain’s top universities—add to the list above Evi Technologies (Amazon), Dark Blue Labs (Google), Vision Factory (also Google) that are either directly spun out of Cambridge, Oxford, or University College London…”
The results of this may be more positive for the UK tech industry than it appears at first glance. There are some companies, like DeepMind, that demand to stay in the UK, and there are other industry players who will return to the UK to launch their own ventures after spending years absorbing and contributing to the most current technologies and advancements.
Chelsea Kerwin, May 5, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Software That Contains Human Reasoning
April 20, 2016
Computer software has progressed further and keeps advancing faster than we can purchase the latest product. Software is now capable of holding simple conversations, accurately translating languages, GPS, self-driving cars, etc. The one thing that that computer developers cannot program is human thought and reason. The New York Times wrote “Taking Baby Steps Toward Software That Reasons Like Humans” about the goal just out of reach.
The article focuses on Richard Socher and his company MetaMind, a deep learning startup working on pattern recognition software. He along with other companies focused on artificial intelligence are slowly inching their way towards replicating human thought on computers. The progress is slow, but steady according to a MetaMind paper about how machines are now capable of answering questions of both digital images and textual documents.
“While even machine vision is not yet a solved problem, steady, if incremental, progress continues to be made by start-ups like Mr. Socher’s; giant technology companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google; and dozens of research groups. In their recent paper, the MetaMind researchers argue that the company’s approach, known as a dynamic memory network, holds out the possibility of simultaneously processing inputs including sound, sight and text.”
The software that allows computers to answer questions about digital images and text is sophisticated, but the data to come close to human capabilities is not only limited, but also nonexistent. We are coming closer to understanding the human brain’s complexities, but artificial intelligence is not near Asimov levels yet.
Whitney Grace, April 20, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Bing: Search Engine for Developers. Git Moving
April 18, 2016
I read “Bing Just Became the Best Search Engine for Developers.” I was surprised that the word “operators” was left out of the headline. DevOps has become a rallying cry for many. According to the write up:
Almost always as developers we end up on Stack Overflow or Mozilla Developer Network, but now Microsoft’s Bing has given us something even better: executable code directly in search results.
I noted this statement:
Thanks to a collaboration with HackerRank, if you search for something like
string concat C#, you’ll get an interactive code editor with a result that can be run directly from that page to see how it works.
My thought is that Bing is nosing into new territory. Is it possible that there could be some unforeseen consequences along the lines of the Microsoft Tay chatbot? Nah, Microsoft would not provide a function that might compromise a searcher’s computer.
Stephen E Arnold, April 18, 2016
Microsoft Azure Plans Offers Goldilocks and Three Bears Strategy to Find Perfect Fit
April 15, 2016
The article on eWeek titled Microsoft Debuts Azure Basic Search Tier relates the perks of the new plan from Microsoft, namely, that it is cheaper than the others. At $75 per month (and currently half of for the preview period, so get it while it’s hot!) the Basic Azure plan has lower capacity when it comes to indexing, but that is the intention. The completely Free plan enables indexing of 10,000 documents and allows for 50 megabytes of storage, while the new Basic plan goes up to a million documents. The more expensive Standard plan costs $250/month and provides for up to 180 million documents and 300 gigabytes of storage. The article explains,
“The new Basic tier is Microsoft’s response to customer demand for a more modest alternative to the Standard plans, said Liam Cavanagh, principal program manager of Microsoft Azure Search, in a March 2 announcement. “Basic is great for cases where you need the production-class characteristics of Standard but have lower capacity requirements,” he stated. Those production-class capabilities include dedicated partitions and service workloads (replicas), along with resource isolation and service-level agreement (SLA) guarantees, which are not offered in the Free tier.”
So just how efficient is Azure? Cavanagh stated that his team measured the indexing performance at 15,000 documents per minute (although he also stressed that this was with batches organized into groups of 1,000 documents.) With this new plan, Microsoft continues its cloud’s search capabilities.
Chelsea Kerwin, April 15, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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