Artificial Intelligence Still Isn’t All That Smart
Some routine jobs might be at risk someday, but work requiring judgment seems safe.
By Noah Smith
In the business world, machine learning often goes by the annoying moniker of “artificial intelligence.” That science-fiction buzzword evokes visions of godlike sentient computers, when in fact, the product is much closer to a statistical regression. Machine learning is about using algorithms to predict things — whether a web-security image contains a cat, what a Google user wants to search for, or whether a self-driving car should brake to avoid a crash. No one yet knows how to give a single computer system the mental flexibility to reason and learn like a human being.
But buzzwords or no, the field is hot. AI startups have been getting more and more funding in recent years:
Big tech companies such as Alphabet Inc. (Google), Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are investing heavily in the technology. Starting salaries for specialists in the field can be as high as a half-million dollars. AI startups are being acquired at a prodigious rate. Corporate incumbents are…
