It wasn’t long ago when Iron Man came out and the idea of an Artificial Intelligence system that helps a genius through his every day activities garnered widespread attention. Of course, the idea had floated around for quite a bit by then and it was quite consistent in the comics, but this idea to many like-minded youth such as myself showcased a very possible means to bring that nostalgic childhood whim to life.
AI can logically solve almost anything and everything that you put into it, save solve the problems which need a bit of ‘common sense’ in there. That, is something innate to homo sapiens. So the need of the hour is to ‘teach’ AI systems do things you want them to do. Show a few pictures of your friend to a child and he probably might recognize him as ‘the guy from the photo’ the next time he sees him. Similarly, show a good number of photos to the AI system and it will instantly recognize him the next time you put his photo in. Something that happens with the ‘suggested tags’ of facebook often. Come to think of it, facial recognition software which was a very sophisticated piece of technology used only by spies, the army, and some other defense related organizations now has come down to the fingertips of a layman. And what it ultimately does is help the layman do his tasks more efficiently.
By doing all the trivial, logical work itself, man’s intuitive and ‘common sense’ knowledge is put to better use as he can contemplate and plan his work in a more streamlined way. Organizing stuff in a computer is done manually most of the time. Putting videos in one folder, images in another… Why not make an AI system to do the same to a busy man’s schedule? Let the computer organize and analyze the best best use of the 24 hours based on his work and leisure requirements and do trivial tasks such as answering the intercom and streamlining visitors on its own.
Of course there might be a few downsides to this. It’s always good to have a killswitch in case the AI needs to be overridden but unlike pop culture portrays it, a highly functional AI doesn’t always end up as Skynet or Ultron. Ultimately man’s intuition beats all and if he can create a solution to a problem which in itself becomes a problem, he very well can beat the new problem as well.
Update: On 20th December, 2016, Zuck uploaded a video on facebook with a prototype of JARVIS ready for use and helping him out with his daily chores.