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Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

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Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#181

Post by Taek »

crististm wrote: post #177
Taek wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern machine learning depends heavily on data. If you have 100x the data, your algorithm is going to outperform a superior algorithm in most cases, because the data is the source of the intelligence. It's a big, scary barrier for startups, for innovation, and we're running the risk of creating data superpowers that can't be competed with. Some algorithms don't perform well until they have a threshold of data. When…

Actually the source of intelligence is not the data but the source of data. I've seen Norvig's video myself and while I see that they get better results with brute force on more data, that does not mean that better algorithms don't exist. In fact, I know for sure there are better algorithms (only because we have for example humans that are better than AI on certain tasks) that probably can use the available data in a…

When John Green from Portland, Maine goes to Google and types in a search query for 'dirt on Mayor', I would imagine that Google is going to have an advantage over any algorithm, human or otherwise, that does not have access to things like the fact that it's John Green from Portland, does not have access to all the news coming out of Portland (at least not in the same, automated way that Google does), does not have access to Mr. Green's search history, and does not have data on the results millions of other searches related to 'dirt on mayor'.

If you're going to compete with Google as the one-stop-shop for searches, you're going to need to be able to provide search results that are consistently competitive. And I think Google has gotten good enough that you simply can't do that without access to some portion of their moutains of data. Nobody else has search history for every single American, and without that you are going to be crippled when {Random American} tries to search for something.

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#182

Post by [deleted] »

vonmoltke wrote: post #82
Bud wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, you're just making this up. You have no idea whether the "microphone" (by the way, for those who are not fact-averse, it's dual beam-forming mics) in the new wireless earbuds is "laughable". They aren't even released yet. You've never tried them. You have no idea whatsoever. By the way, it's actually very easy to teach Apple's devices the word "fucking". You haven't figured it out yet, but that doesn't make it Ap…

> dual beam-forming mics What is a "beam-forming" microphone? Beam forming is a function of active RF elements. How is a sound-frequency receiver able to do it?

[deleted]

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#184

Post by JimDabell »

kbart wrote: post #162
JimDabell wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're forgetting the massive impact the iPhone had on the mobile web. Before the iPhone was released, the mobile web was a mixture of rudimentary WAP/WML, or if you were lucky awful browsers that tried to render HTML. Everybody hated it. Then the iPhone was released and it had a web browser in the same ballpark as real desktop browsers. What's more, WebKit was open-source. In next to no time, all the major phone ven…

I'm not arguing that smartphone was a huge step forward, just saying that it was only a matter of "when" and "who" not "if". Also, as for mobile web boom, I think the introduction of 3g was the key factor, there was only so much you could do with GPRS/WAP..

Sure, it would have happened eventually, but not in the 1–2 year timeframe you mentioned. Not even close, judging by the lack of progress from other vendors.

3G wasn't the deciding factor, the first iPhone didn't have it but responsive sites started popping up right away. There's also no point in 3G for web browsing unless you have a decent rendering engine – WML and XHTML Basic sites were hardly data hogs.

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#185

Post by newscracker »

The moment I saw the headline, I noticed Apple missing from the list, and it felt right! Facebook, Amazon, Google...Microsoft...IBM...all coming together to promote (sell) AI? This sounds like the coming together of the evil powers.

Apple, however successful it may continue to be financially, needs to focus on a wider penetration of its devices and services if there is to be any meaningful dent on the privacy front around the world. Being a market leader in one country (or a few) doesn't help much when billions of people around the world use Android phones where the default is "ask for any permission and it shall be given." For this to change, I believe Apple must go lower on the price front, even if that means lower margins. It also needs to push forward quicker on things that other companies don't consider, like differential privacy, and look for markedly different ways of doing things compared to the personal data hungry parasites like the ones in the title.

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#186

Post by rory »

runesoerensen wrote: post #44
jonathankoren wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that sounds like some shade tossed on this endevour. i.e. They were either not asked, or had to pony up money that only a multibillion dollar megacorp could part with.

> They were either not asked, or had to pony up money that only a multibillion dollar megacorp could part with. Perhaps you're right, but at least it seems like OpenAI would like to join if/when invited. Judging from the press release it sounds like this partnership intend to invite non-corporate/non-profit members soon (and I think they'll loose a lot of credibility and support if they don't): "Academics, non-profit…

Mustafa Suleyman has now added an encouraging reply: https://twitter.com/mustafasuleymn/status/781244827669147648

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#187

Post by dzhiurgis »

coldtea wrote: post #165
wstrange wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone exploited a rift in the space-time fabric. The right features at the right time, everybody had to have one and the margins are totally insane. That can't last. The market is nearing saturation, and competitive pressures will erode margins. It seems unlikely they will have another product that generates as much cash as the iPhone. They will still be a very profitable company, but perhaps not the cash printi…

The exact same thing holds for Google Search. They have not generated any product that brings as much cash as search ads (not even close) -- and that's since 1998 or so. Google Docs, Google +, Google Glass (lol) etc never went anywhere much, revenue wise, and even Android is mostly a loss as far as Google is concerned, even including licenses and mobile ads (makes a good buck for Samsung though). > The market is near…

Google has not made anything that generates the profit, but they still can pull some levers to make their search even more difficult (remove verbatim for example) so you'd spend more time on it (thus generate more ad money).

Also they've got those cute/silly moonshots that just might pan out.

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#188

Post by qznc »

patkai wrote: post #168
thr0waway1239 wrote: post #138

I was starting to get worried about the data collection already happening individually at these big companies. Now that they have announced a partnership which potentially combines all this data together, I feel so much better! The funny thing is, the companies are ALWAYS going to put a positive spin on this. Not very different from the WhatsApp "we won't show ads, ever" messaging. Now I am in the camp which says "Fo…

You just made me think about a few issues: 1. wouldn't these five be a cute quasi monopoly? (is pentapoly a word?) 2. isn't it brilliant how "they" - including many others, like Musk - make a big fuss about AI that is mostly already open and published, while what we should worry about is data? 3. is there any hope for an open society when most of us nerds - who are supposed to be all rebellious, undergroundy, securit…

wrt 1.: "oligopoly"

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#189

Post by patkai »

Taek wrote: post #181
crististm wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the source of intelligence is not the data but the source of data. I've seen Norvig's video myself and while I see that they get better results with brute force on more data, that does not mean that better algorithms don't exist. In fact, I know for sure there are better algorithms (only because we have for example humans that are better than AI on certain tasks) that probably can use the available data in a…

When John Green from Portland, Maine goes to Google and types in a search query for 'dirt on Mayor', I would imagine that Google is going to have an advantage over any algorithm, human or otherwise, that does not have access to things like the fact that it's John Green from Portland, does not have access to all the news coming out of Portland (at least not in the same, automated way that Google does), does not have a…

"If you're going to compete with Google as the one-stop-shop for searches"

Agreed. An easy way to test the difficulty of this is to switch to Bing for a week. I actually tried!

Re: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Create Partnership on AI

#190

Post by preek »

blazespin wrote: post #109
gavman wrote: post #49

>>"As of today’s launch, companies like Apple, Twitter, Intel and Baidu are missing from the group. Though Apple is said to be enthusiastic about the project, their absence is still notable because the company has fallen behind in artificial intelligence when compared to its rivals — many of which are part of this new group." It seems Apple's lack of engagement in the community [1] is really starting to hurt it. Did…

Likely this is part of why this group was created. They were probably getting tired of Apple trying to ride on everyone's hard work without giving anything back.

What's the basis of this argument?
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