Google Will Become an AI Company • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#51

Post by StavrosK » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:00 PM UTC

abstractbill wrote: post #27

I was very impressed when I found out Google was running a free 411 phone information service just so that they could gather a ton of data to train new voice-recognition algorithms. That's real long-term thinking, and definitely makes them an AI company in my book.

Why do you think the search feature in Android phones requires an internet connection?

I don't know about you, but I haven't thought of Google as being anything other than an AI company for a while now. It has actually surprised me for a while now how little AI most of their products have, which I guess might be evidence that I was wrong.

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#52

Post by maweaver » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:10 PM UTC

100k wrote: post #45

Traffic is caused by human error? I suppose flooding is caused by "water error", then? Traffic is caused by too many vehicles attempting to use a limited resource at the same time. Driverless cars may make this more tolerable (certainly riding the bus does) but the idea that this will make traffic obsolete is laughable.

In my experience most traffic jams are caused by bad merging, not lack of capacity. A few years ago I regularly drove a stretch of road that went from 2 lanes to 3 for a few miles and then back again, without gaining a significant amount of traffic in between (I have no idea why the road was designed that way, maybe one of the side roads feeding into it got a lot of traffic at a different time of day or something). Every day there would be a traffic jam where the third lane ended. Someone waits too long to merge and traffic has to slow to let them in, or is nervous about moving over and has to be given space, or whatever, and it just compounds until traffic literally stops at that point. I see the same thing all the time at on/off ramps, turn lanes, etc.

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#53

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:11 PM UTC

javanix wrote: post #41

This might be the most rose-tinted article about Google I've ever read. There are nothing but complaints about Google's lack of personal customer service in regards to their AdSense program - what makes you think that future AI projects from the company would be any better? Just because Google's made a self-driving car doesn't mean they're automatically the front-runner in that category. What about all of those teams…

[deleted]

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#54

Post by zasz » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:13 PM UTC

100k wrote: post #45

Traffic is caused by human error? I suppose flooding is caused by "water error", then? Traffic is caused by too many vehicles attempting to use a limited resource at the same time. Driverless cars may make this more tolerable (certainly riding the bus does) but the idea that this will make traffic obsolete is laughable.

We will probably never be able to get rid of traffic completely, but we could greatly increase the capacity of a road. If every car was driven by a robot, then the distance between cars could be much smaller than it is right now.

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#55

Post by spinchange » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:13 PM UTC

cosgroveb wrote: post #44

abstractbill wrote: post #27

I was very impressed when I found out Google was running a free 411 phone information service just so that they could gather a ton of data to train new voice-recognition algorithms. That's real long-term thinking, and definitely makes them an AI company in my book.

Sadly now that it has served its purpose, it has been shut down. Granted I hardly ever need it now that I have a smartphone but it was very useful when I didn't!

Agreed. I've had "GOOG-411" programmed in my contacts for ages. I called the other day for old time's sake instead of searching and found it was no longer operational. That was a little disappointing. :-/

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#56

Post by philwelch » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:25 PM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #42

achompas wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For many people, whatever nice benefits of density there are Here are a few that I came up with in 30sec: Varied options on things to do (like you said) Closer proximity to other people in general (more social opportunities) Commuting on foot Better access to more government services Greater selection of goods, food and produce

Except for "Greater selection of goods, food and produce", all the ones you add seem like they could be costs rather than benefits, for many people. Closer proximity to other people in general, for example, was one of the harms I was thinking of. But I'm slightly more misanthropic than most Americans, I guess. The one about greater selection isn't actually true, as far as I can tell. You can get pretty much anything…

Closer proximity to other people in general, for example, was one of the harms I was thinking of. But I'm slightly more misanthropic than most Americans, I guess.

Misanthropy often comes down to a matter of quality rather than quantity. I've lived almost my entire life in small towns, and I'm not inclined to speak highly of the people I shared those towns with. For one, while small town folk are probably friendlier and less suspicious towards their own kind, you're also more likely to find various forms of bigotry. It's no coincidence that everyone I know of from my high school who happened to be black, gay, bisexual, or otherwise a minority desperately wanted out and for the most part have moved to denser areas.

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#57

Post by sp332 » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:26 PM UTC

cosgroveb wrote: post #44

abstractbill wrote: post #27

I was very impressed when I found out Google was running a free 411 phone information service just so that they could gather a ton of data to train new voice-recognition algorithms. That's real long-term thinking, and definitely makes them an AI company in my book.

Sadly now that it has served its purpose, it has been shut down. Granted I hardly ever need it now that I have a smartphone but it was very useful when I didn't!

You can still use it on Android. Open the Maps app, activate the voice search, then say what you're looking for. It shows the location with two buttons: navigate or call the phone number.

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#58

Post by randallsquared » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:27 PM UTC

achompas wrote: post #50

randallsquared wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for "Greater selection of goods, food and produce", all the ones you add seem like they could be costs rather than benefits, for many people. Closer proximity to other people in general, for example, was one of the harms I was thinking of. But I'm slightly more misanthropic than most Americans, I guess. The one about greater selection isn't actually true, as far as I can tell. You can get pretty much anything…

I also live in the DC metro area...maybe we've met at the HN meetups? Will you be there next Wednesday?

I went to the last one, but only stayed for a few minutes. I'll look into where and when this next one is.

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#59

Post by aneesh » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:30 PM UTC

cosgroveb wrote: post #44

abstractbill wrote: post #27

I was very impressed when I found out Google was running a free 411 phone information service just so that they could gather a ton of data to train new voice-recognition algorithms. That's real long-term thinking, and definitely makes them an AI company in my book.

Sadly now that it has served its purpose, it has been shut down. Granted I hardly ever need it now that I have a smartphone but it was very useful when I didn't!

1-800-BING-411 is still operational.

http://www.discoverbing.com/mobile/411/

Re: Google Will Become an AI Company

#60

Post by orangecat » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 8:35 PM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #34

maeon3 wrote: post #14

Self driving cars are 15 years away. The self driving cars will have to deal with the chaotic human drivers, and this will require Strong AI. Once we have this, driving around will be one of the small issues of the day.

I hope they are further away. For me a bus is self driving car, but driving a car is also a pleasure not only the means to get from a point A to a point B.

To the extent that that's true (driving in heavy traffic is definitely not fun), balance it against the tens of thousands of people killed in car accidents every year, most of which are due to human error.