Non-trivial pursuits: Learning machines and forgetful humans

Chris Heilmann (codepo8), PNWPHP conference, Seattle, September 2017

Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data…

We live in a post-data leak world. We have been recorded and categorised

Lots of companies are using this data.

Some in amazing ways, others in shady ones.

There should not be only a few that have access and do something with it.

Let’s democratiseintelligent machines and human interfaces.

How do we remember and learn?

Repetition

RepetitionComparison

RepetitionComparisonExplanation

RepetitionComparisonExplanationAssociation

complex and erratic leaps

we are terrible at repetition

bored

That the returned data is fit for human consumption

Where do I find a nice restaurant around here that is open tomorrow around lunch time?

nice restaurant here that is open tomorrow around lunch time?

Search term

nicerestaurant here that is open tomorrow around lunch time?

What is nice?Search term

nicerestaurant here

tomorrow around lunch time?

What is nice?Search term

Location

nicerestaurant here

tomorrow around lunch time

What is nice?Search term

Location

Calculated time frame

Where nicerestaurant here

tomorrow around lunch time

What is nice?Search term

Location

Calculated time frame

Calculated result

Our current hype around Artificial Intelligence is driven by Sci-Fi concepts.

The age-old dream of a ubiquitous, all-knowing computer butler.

One that understands all human communication quirks and also has a delicious sense of sarcasm.

In essence: a human, that isn’t human but appears to be.

Which is how we set ourselves up for failure.

Ubiquitous computing easily becomes a nuisance when it records without giving us the right answers.

It is very easy to create a creepy, annoying chat bot. We are not forgiving with them as we are with humans.

Artificial Intelligenceis most effective when it enhances in the background.

RepetitionComparisonExplanationAssociation

RepetitionComparisonExplanationAssociation

What you can use AI for in your interfaces right now:

Visual RecognitionVoice RecognitionNatural Language ProcessingEmotion RecognitionEntity Recognition

Visual recognition

Visual recognition (positives)

Automated tagging and

clustering of images

Accessibility benefit of

automated alternative content

Biometric login

Automated “art direction”

Automated moderation

Visual recognition (negatives)

Privacy issues

Wrong and possibly offensive

automated labeling

False moderation and failed

moderation

Connection / Upload latency

Insufficiently trained models

Voice recognition

Voice recognition (positives)

Visual impairment or no screen

Hands-free interaction (phone,

car, headsets…)

Faster than typing, more natural

Magical “Star Trek” factor

Voice recognition (negatives)

Intrusive as hell

Disappointing error handling

Language and accent issues

Low sound quality or loud

surrounding

Latency in recognition

Natural Language Processing

NLP (positives)

Allowing humans to ask human

questions

Proper translation of content

not word-by-word, but by

meaning

Conversational interfaces that

keep the user engaged

NLP (negatives)

Users are conditioned to think in

clicks and to enter keywords –

natural language feels out of

place

Language differences are still a

problem, not all people speak

English

Emotion recognition

Emotion recognition (positives)

Feedback channel for product

tests

React to the most annoyed

customers first

Find happy quotes and

customers to promote

Navigate media by emotion

Emotion recognition (negatives)

False recognition results in

hurtful messaging

Quality issues can result in very

wrong results

Voice emotion recognition is still

a tough one to crack

Entity recognition

Entity recognition (positives)

Automated tagging and cross

referencing

Opportunity to add third party

content (Wikipedia is the classic)

Intelligent auto-complete

Entity recognition (negatives)

False recognition

Language differences

Lack of value of automated

content

You can REST easy…

You can REST easy…

You can REST easy…

https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/cloudinary-image-management-and-manipulation-in-the-cloud-cdn/

Everything counts in large amounts

RepetitionComparisonExplanationAssociation

Language Understanding Intelligence Service (LUIS)https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/LUIS/Home

Brazilian

Portuguese

Chinese

Dutch

English

French

French

Canadian

German

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Spanish

Spanish

Mexican

Custom Vision Servicehttps://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/custom-vision-service/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/custom-speech-service/

Custom Speech Service (CRIS)

Intelligent systems will not go away. If anything, they’ll be part of any platform soon.

We can own part of this and create human interfaces for all.

Or we can hope that others use this power only for good.

I – for one, don’t consider this a good bet. I’d rather play and be part of this revolution. And so can you.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcymet/3356449350

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcja/3583398125

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frogman2212/3970181993

https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnath/7356295658

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doggybytes/4194394234

https://www.flickr.com/photos/monophonicgirl/3985633864

Chris Heilmann

@codepo8