AI, it’s all the buzz.
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
Some of the most fun I’ve had in video games is when a non-playable character does the unexpected. You know, those times where you are out of ammo and your AI friend says, “ ammo over here!”, or the demon you are fighting tricks you into springing a totally avoidable and seemingly well thought out trap!
That’s what I want to talk about today. The art of pseudo intelligence. We all know these video game characters in the above example are not intelligent. They are just simply programming routines, scripted events, and very clever writing, but when done right feels oh so good. I’d like to narrow down this concept to two ideas, the illusion of choice and randomness.
The illusion of choice. “Hello Charles, how can I assist you today” chirps the digital assistant on my phone. “I’d like directions to the nearest movie theater please” I reply in a monotone voice. “ Sure thing, now routing to the nearest movie theater” says the assistant. Once upon a time this scenario was the future, it was the stuff people dreamed of along side flying cars and jet-packs, but it’s here today. Is this intelligence? I think now is as good of a time as any to define intelligence, let’s go with the Merriam-Webster 2nd definition for intelligence : “the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (such as tests)”. Based on this definition I would as my self the following questions, is the assistant applying knowledge to manipulate the environment, is it thinking abstractly and successfully performing some sort of test? I’ll let you decide weather that’s the case, in the mean time I would like to suggest that it would be far more interesting if the assistant some how had insight into the choices you are going to make before even you knew the choices you wanted. What would be require for this miraculous magic trick of knowing what another person want with out them telling you? Well the way humans do it, we’d call it active listening, but for machines , we call that data collection. He is trying to figure out what she means with that squint in her eyes, and the tone she uses as she says, “ Are you hungry honey”. Would true intelligence be replying no because maybe he is not hungry, or maybe with a tinge of insight score a critical hit by saying yes and get up to fix her something to eat because she is so obviously beating around the bush of asking him to feed her? Who knows, your guess is as good as mine, at the end of the day it’s what she wanted. Imagine a machine that was able to accurately guess what you wanted from the subtlest of hints, now imagine that machine was talking to you. It sees your amused face, it has recorded the smallest details of your daily routine of binge watching CNN news and then out of the blue it ask’s you, “ Hey Girl, did you see what trump posted on twitter today!”.
Wow that was random! Yes, we all love it , that random number generator, that luck of the draw when we play those lottery tickets. Just like in sales my friend it is truly just a numbers game, or is it? Alright, first thing first for the sake of clarity let’s define what I mean by random, “lacking a definite plan, purpose, or pattern”. For all your tech nerds out there, you already know that there is no computer built by man that is truly random, there is always an underlying pattern and purpose in the way software presents randomness. Even more interesting that given enough data, one could decipher the apparent randomness of events even in reality! Is it truly random that the price of gas increased, if not how intelligent would you consider the person or….. thing that was able to forecast when the price of gas is going to be at it’s lowest or highest for the year? I don’t know, but you’d definitely consider it , him, or her to be a valuable asset when it comes to knowing when to buy gas! Randomness or the illusion there of is a vital key to valuing one’s intelligence. Nothing like being presented with the unexpected , even more so when you are the one expecting to present the unexpected only to be foiled by a machine that knew exactly what you were going to do before you could realize what you were doing! Yes indeed in the future, or today, maybe always where it’s been all about the Benjamin’s, it has also been all about the amount of information you have and how quickly you are able to make valuable decisions on it.
In conclusion I’ve been talking about the art of pseudo intelligence. I’ve reduced it down to two concepts to over simplify it, the illusion of choice, and randomness. Those times where you take for granted that your digital assistant is asking if you want to pick up some toiletries while your driving home from work ; only to realize you have to go to the bathroom, where you discover you are out of toilet paper.