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Howard Cao
Weekend Plans
Siri cofounder Tom Gruber volunteered Adam Cheyer to participate in a conversation with the software (shown above). Gruber explains the artificial-intelligence tasks behind its responses.
1. "The user can ask a broad question like this because Siri has information that gives clues about what the user intends. For example, the software might store data about the user's location, schedule, and past activities. Siri can deal with open-ended questions within specific areas, such as entertainment or travel."
2. "Siri pulls information relevant to the user's question from a variety of Web services and tools. In this case, it checks the weather, event listings, and directories of local attractions and uses machine learning to select certain options based on the user's past preferences. Siri can connect to various Web applications and then integrate the results into a single response."
3. "Siri interprets this reply in the context of the existing conversation, using it to refine the user's request."
4. "The software offers specific suggestions based on the user's personal preferences and its ability to categorize. Because Siri is task-oriented, rather than a search engine, it offers to buy tickets that the user selects."
5. "By now, the conversation has narrowed enough that all the user has to do is click on his choice."
6. "Siri compiles information about the event, such as band members, directions, and prices, and structures it in a logical way. It also handles the task of finding out what's available and getting the tickets."
The iPhone speech aid is boosting visits to search engines such as Yelp and Wolfram Alpha.
Apple may be building the technology into iOS. But can it succeed where others have failed?
A startup has licensed heavyweight artificial-intelligence technology for its online recommendation engine.
Great article Erica, thank you for the heads-up! We built a more "to-the-point" virtual intelligent agent software to help our clients reduce their customer service costs. The agent simply responds to user questions and redirects them to the relevant page on the website as it does so. Readers of this article might be interested, so here is our website: Botego
I have been designing systems that are TABLE DRIVEN and EVOLVE for over 30 years. That is how you start to create AI. The big problem was getting the authority to create new tables from a DBA. I got around that by creating a table of tables that used a program to view, add, update, and delete tables and their elements using various kinds of Database Management Systems.
Now with Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP (LAMP) or (WAMP) that is no longer a problem. I installed it on my PC and I wrote a script that can create just about anything including: databases, and their tables. It backs them up, restores them, modifies their structures, updates their rows, etc.
Then I created a Data Dictionary that defined things like STATE, ZIP CODE, ETC. It defines objects giving their definition; edit rules, regular expressions, and creating Valid Value tables such as VV_STATE. My table creation script looks at the Data Dictionary to determine parameters for my standard Java Script editing program in the Header of the HTML that it creates and modifies the form creating pull downs of acceptable values populated by corresponding Valid Value tables.
Any Bozo can use this script to do anything that a DBA can do and once a table is created my scripts will also maintain these objects by creating table maintenance scripts for specific tables using a selection menu.
Now I could have continued and created a script for entering System Requirements with access to standard definitions of just about any type of table imaginable to allow it to create entire applications, but since that kind of AI is impossible in “EVERYONES” estimation I did not bother.
After I was through teaching Green Cards from India and Pakistan how to write COBOL UDB programs for Y2K I was considered too old to understand today’s technology. I have been replaced by Green Cards.
Many years ago I worked for Xerox and worked with MIT’s very expensive COBOL code generation application. I told them that my techniques could allow me and my team to develop systems faster than it could. I proved that was true and Xerox stopped using it. It is a good thing for you people that I do not approve of employment through Social Networking.
Sounds like you managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat jadamone. Although I knew something like this was eventually going to come down the pipe, I have, in addition to many other things, been busy trying to construct an argument around the theory that the evolution of computer coding langauages has run roughly parellel with the evolutionary coding of biological processes. A bit of a long shot shot, perhaps, but no less entertaining. To get right to the point, however, if you would like to pursue the commercialization of this or any other ideas which your playing with, go to my website, www.williameady.com and leave a message. But even if you don't, your feedback on this particular subject has been interesting to say the very least.
I admire their goal, but how will they infer context? We need help at the project/task level, but - for example - tools like email and browsers are so multi-purposed that they can be used for anything. It's a kind of Turing test: How do you know when someone's actually working on their computer. All activities appear identical: Browsing, reading, typing, etc.
If it came out today, the web designer would hit the upload button and instantly see my shadow and hear my shopping cart wheels rushing behind him.
I have been ready for AI to help with task management, prioritization, appt scheduling, managing too much info, time management, goal management, etc.
I have some questions about the delay in AI personal assistants. I am not a programmer, so let me preface my question with that bit of info. The question is, why can't a mobile ph, serving as an AI device, learn everything from the person using the phone, ie, build its knowledge base through inquiry? It seems that the interractive response of the device owner, who has a vested interest in teaching, would quickly develop the amount of information necessary for that person. It also seems that based on some previous comments, the number of databases that exist with definitions must be enormous. Would it be possible to have an AI device go through interractive learning throughout the day, and then when not interacting, go through connecting online to relevant databases to create the precise definitions relevant to that days interractive experience.
It seems that each person would develop a unique personal assistant through this process. Because each one would be unique, they would not have exactly the same definitions or logic about similar info points. Yet, its probable that the combined logic of thousands of these unique assistants could be scored by their owners, and those with the higher scores could become preferred models for that particular info point.
And again, this would continue an evolution of information gathering and testing of the use of those information models.
It seems that would be faster and more efficient than any human entering millions of definitions to create one personal assistant. Why not create millions of unique personal assistants?
AI is only part of a bigger picture
Ubiquitous Virtual Assistants will certainly come to pass, but AI-based Assistants, though they play a key role, are only part of a bigger picture.
Providing AI-based virtual support by assembling responses on the fly requires a significant effort in identifying and programming for all possible contexts. As a result, most AI-based Virtual Assistants handle only a small set of tasks. Furthermore, expanding the number is limited by the availability of specialist programmers and the knowledge that they can develop and codify.
As a Knowledge Management company, we approached the issue in quite a different way. Our objective was to enable people with no programming skills, who already have the knowledge in their heads, to create task wizards. Each wizard can then be called by AI-based Virtual Assistants like Siri, Botégo and Headup, by Google, an embedded link or any other method.
The resulting product, gStepOne, taps into the existing body of “doing” knowledge – the smartest ways to produce the best outcomes, from billions of web pages (via Google) or directly from people in business, government, clubs, community organisations or individuals.
People can create wizards to help deliver a service, sell a house, hire staff, conduct an event, adopt a child, take out insurance, apply for a grant – any task where people need an Assistant to help them do things like an expert, without the expert being there.
They do it by drawing a map of the steps in a task by dragging and dropping shapes onto a page, then linking and naming the steps. gStepOne Googles the web for supporting “How to” information, training, pictures, videos, maps, blogs, etc. for each step and generates a wizard. The wizard is then available to guide and support others when they need to do the task.
gStepOne is free and available from http://www.gstepone.com. Please check it out!
Hi, is this SIRI applicable to MS Windows, Linux or any ohter OS? Can this run on a MAC PC?
TY
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
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popart
2 Comments
Great review - something like this exists...
- Top Down Semantic Web -
I've actually experienced something like this recently - Check out Headup.com - they do pretty much the same thing but they're a Firefox addon.
Anyway...
Siri sounds really great. I'll definitely give it a spin, if and when it becomes available...
Cheers
mike
"I tweet @pop_art"
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