Imagine if we can just talk to our computers and have it understand, 'Please schedule a meeting with Bob for next week.' Or if each child could have a personalized tutor. Or if self-driving cars could save all of us hours of driving.
Interpretation
The quote envisions a future where technology enhances daily tasks and personal learning experiences.
Andrew Ng highlights the transformative potential of technology in our lives. He imagines a world where computers can seamlessly handle complex tasks, such as scheduling meetings or providing personalized education, and envisions innovations like self-driving cars that can reduce time spent on mundane activities. This reflects a deep belief in the ability of technology to improve efficiency and personalize learning, ultimately reshaping how we interact with the world.
In practice
In a conference about AI, I would start with a quote from Andrew Ng to illustrate the future of human-computer interaction.
AI has been making tremendous progress in machine translation, self-driving cars, etc. Basically, all the progress I see is in specialised intelligence. It might be hundreds or thousands of years or, if there is an unexpected breakthrough, decades.
It seemed really amazing that you could write a few lines of code and have it learn to do interesting things.
Most of the value of deep learning today is in narrow domains where you can get a lot of data. Here's one example of something it cannot do: have a meaningful conversation.
A single neuron in the brain is an incredibly complex machine that even today we don't understand. A single 'neuron' in a neural network is an incredibly simple mathematical function that captures a minuscule fraction of the complexity of a biological neuron.
None of us today know how to get computers to learn with the speed and flexibility of a child.
I've been to so many manufacturing plants. I've yet to walk into one where I did not think AI solutions wouldn't help.
We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it.
New technologies, however remarkable they might seem, are fundamentally just tools made by people for people.
There are big lines between those who play video games and those who do not. For those who don't, video games are irrelevant. They think all video games must be too difficult.
We are losing our common vocabulary, built over thousands of years to help and delight and instruct us, for the sake of what we take to be the new technology's virtues.
Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.
If every sector of business and society will be driven by software - how does that get enabled? By highly-paid computer scientists funded by risk capital in Silicon Valley? Or by lots of engineers who can build it themselves?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.