“Computers Learn to Listen, and Some Talk Back” By: Steve Lohr & John Markoff Laura Ruskamp

Artificial Intelligence Has gone through rapid progress in listening, speaking, seeing, reasoning, and learning Most widespread type used is the use of computers “listening” to and understanding voice commands, like Google Voice Search on cellphones

In the Medical Field... Doctor’s office example Understand speech, pediatric conditions, and reason Robot sympathy “Our young children and grandchildren will think it is completely natural to talk to machines that look at them and understand them.” - Eric Horvitz

In the Medical Field... Doctors use this technology for assistance in transcription use has tripled over three years used by 150,000 doctors today one in four sentences need some correction

“The Digital Assistant” Computers as time managers in the office Checks the schedule Monitors work patterns phone calls meeting importance Work related “chitchat?”

In The Car... Ford recently began using this technology Ford Sync works as a defense New Ford Edge complete addresses and turn-by-turn directions “asking” to play music

Other Uses Call Centers very common, widely used redirection of a frustrated customer

The Faults Called “idiot savants” “narrow domain of knowledge” lack understanding in certain social situations jokes, sarcasm, irony Small mistakes lead to big problems missed meetings vs. wrong diagnosis

The Future... “Smart machines” are in the research stage now, but this research provides a view of what’s to come in the future. “Smart machines, experts predict, will someday tutor students, assist surgeons, and safely drive cars.” Will eventually eliminate many jobs, but also create many new ones. “There are going to be all sorts of errors and problems, and you need human checks and balances, but having artificial intelligence is way better than not having it.” - Andries van Dam

Citations Lohr, S, & Markoff, J. (2010, June 24). Smarter than you think - computers learn to listen, and some talk back. Retrieved from html html New York Times,. (Producer). (2010). Medical bayesian kiosk. [Web]. Retrieved from /medical-bayesian- kiosk.html?ref=science /medical-bayesian- kiosk.html?ref=science