Why data matters
An interview with me on NPR’s TED Radio Hour about AI
I WAS RECENTLY interviewed by the brilliant NPR radio host Guy Raz about AI and a world awash with data. It forced me to consider the changes to society in the broadest possible way.
I am struck that outsiders to statistics are agog when confronted with idea that we can apply data to make reasonable predictions about all aspects of society (which though seemingly novel, is the “social physics” of Adolphe Quetelet of the 19th century). And that “big data” to many ears rings synonymous with “big brother.”
In the podcast, I try to explain why all this data is a very good thing, but we need to minimize the harms. But the episode only scratched the surface. The real win is not simply statistical inference, as useful as that is, but to automate it at scale with systems that improve their predictions over time: machine learning. That’s the new world we’re hurling towards — and for the moment, only the geeks are really aware of it.
I hope you listen to the podcast, and let me know what you think on twitter at @kncukier.
