Yet the telephone-answering AI systems are as stupid as ever!
Phone IVR: "Tell me why you are calling. You can speak in full sentences."Me: "The spurvy bearing is jammed against the frambulator nut and I can't get it loose."
Phone IVR: "Please hold while I get an agent to help you."
Someday we may actually have AI. Right now it’s just a buzzword. It’s a bunch of nested algorithms and databases for pattern matching. What it lacks is consciousness, laziness and an instinct for self preservation. I was captivated by the idea back in the 80’s. Most people think that all you need is a bunch of processors working in parallel and a software program. If we could give a computer the level of consciousness of a hummingbird for instance we would be on the way there. We don’t have that.
I am thrilled that we have young American people getting into computer science because we need to stop importing coders from other cultures who don’t have experience with a classless society and political freedom. I’m talking caste system here. There are lots of people from other countries that have a caste system and if they are at the top they will not be inclined to do things the way we would do them.