[ExI] Oxford scientists edge toward quantum PC with 10b qubits.

[Richard Loosemore]

Kelly Anderson wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 9:01 AM, Richard Loosemore <rpwl at lightlink.com> wrote:
>> John Clark wrote:
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFR3lOm_xhE
>> Yes, but do you have any idea how trivial this is?
> 
> Trivial!?! This is the final result of decades of research in both
> software and hardware. Hundreds of thousands of man hours have gone
> into the projects that directly led to this development. Trivial! You
> have to be kidding. The subtle language cues that are used on Jeopardy
> are not easy to pick up on. This is a really major advance in AI. I
> personally consider this to be a far more impressive achievement than
> Deep Blue learning to play chess.

I stand by my statement that what Watson can do is "trivial".

You are wildly overestimating Watson's ability to handle "subtle 
language cues".  It is being asked a direct factual question (so, no 
need for Watson to categorize the speech into the dozens or hundreds of 
subtle locution categories that a human would have to), and there is 
also no need for Watson to try to gauge the speaker's intent on any of 
the other levels at which communication usually happens.

Furthermore, Watson is unable (as far as I know) to deploy its knowledge 
in such a way as to learn any new concepts just by talking, or answer 
questions that involve mental modeling of situations, or abstractions. 
For example, I would bet that if I ask Watson:

"If I have a set of N balls in a bag, and I pull out the same number of 
balls from the bag as there are letters in your name, how many balls 
would be left in the bag?"

It would be completely unable to answer.

> Richard, do you think computers will achieve Strong AI eventually?

Kelly, by my reckoning I am one of only a handful of people on this 
planet with the ability to build a strong AI, and I am actively working 
on the problem (in between teaching, fundraising, and writing to the 
listosphere).



Richard Loosemore