Artificial Intelligence - what can and can't it do? 6 Minute English

Neil: Welcome to 6 Minute English, where we

bring you an intelligent topic and six related

items of vocabulary. I'm Neil.

Tim: And I'm Tim. And today we're talking

about AI - or Artificial Intelligence.

Neil: Artificial Intelligence is the ability

of machines to copy human intelligent behaviour

- for example, an intelligent machine can

learn from its own mistakes, and make decisions

based on what's happened in the past.

Tim: There's a lot of talk about AI these

days, Neil, but it's still just science fiction,

isn't it?

Neil: That's not true - AI is everywhere.

Machine thinking is in our homes, offices,

schools and hospitals. Computer algorithms

are helping us drive our cars. They're diagnosing

what's wrong with us in hospitals. They're

marking student essays. They're telling us

what to read on our smartphones.

Tim: Well, that really does sound like science

fiction - but it's happening already, you

say, Neil?

Neil: It's definitely happening, Tim. And

an algorithm, by the way, is a set of steps

a computer follows in order to solve a problem.

So can you tell me what was the name of the

computer which famously beat world chess champion

Garry Kasparov using algorithms in 1997? Was

it: a) Hal, b) Alpha 60 or c) Deep Blue?

Tim: I'll say Deep Blue. Although I'm just

guessing.

Neil: Was it an educated guess, Tim?

Tim: I know a bit about chess...

Neil: An educated guess is based on knowledge

and experience and is therefore likely to

be correct. Well, we'll find out later on

how educated your guess was in this case, Tim!

Tim: Indeed. But getting back to AI and what

machines can do - are they any good at solving

real-life problems? Computers think in zeros

and ones don't they? That sounds like a pretty

limited language when it comes to life experience!

Neil: You would be surprised to what those

zeroes and ones can do, Tim. Although you're

right that AI does have its limitations at

the moment. And if something has limitations

there's a limit on what it can do or how good

it can be.

Tim: OK - well now might be a good time to

listen to Zoubin Bharhramani, Professor of

Information Engineering at the University

of Cambridge and deputy director of the Leverhulme

Centre for the Future of Intelligence. He's

talking about what limitations AI has at the

moment.

Zoubin Bharhramani: I think it's very interesting

how many of the things that we take for granted

- we humans take for granted - as being sort

of things we don't even think about like how

do we walk, how do we reach, how do we recognise

our mother. You know, all these things. When

you start to think how to implement them on

a computer, you realise that it's those things

that are incredibly difficult to get computers

to do, and that's where the current cutting

edge of research is.

Neil: If we take something for granted we

don't realise how important something is.

Tim: You sometimes take me for granted,

think, Neil.

Neil: No - I never take you for granted, Tim!

You're far too important for that!

Tim: Good to hear! So things we take for granted

are doing every day tasks like walking, picking

something up, or recognising somebody. We

implement - or perform - these things without

thinking. Whereas it's cutting edge research

to try and program a machine to do them.

Neil: Cutting edge means very new and advanced.

It's interesting isn't it, that over ten years

ago a computer beat a chess grand master - but

the same computer would find it incredibly

difficult to pick up a chess piece.

Tim: I know. It's very strange. But now you've

reminded me that we need the answer to today's

question.

Neil: Which was: What was the name of the

computer who famously beat world chess champion

Gary Kasparov in 1997? Now, you said Deep

Blue, Tim, and... that was the right answer!

Tim: You see, my educated guess was based

on knowledge and experience!

Neil: Or maybe you were just lucky. So, the

IBM supercomputer Deep Blue played against

US world chess champion Garry Kasparov in

two chess matches. The first match was played

in Philadelphia in 1996 and was won by Kasparov.

The second was played in New York City in

1997 and won by Deep Blue. The 1997 match

was the first defeat of a reigning world chess

champion by a computer under tournament conditions.

Tim: Let's go through the words we learned

today. First up was 'artificial intelligence'

or AI - the ability of machines to copy human

intelligent behaviour.

Neil: 'There are AI programs that

can write poetry.'

Tim: Do you have any examples you can recite?

Neil: Afraid I don't! Number two - an algorithm

is a set of steps a computer follows in order

to solve a problem. For example, 'Google changes

its search algorithm hundreds of times every year.'

Tim: The adjective is algorithmic - for example,

'Google has made many algorithmic changes.'

Neil: Number three - if something has 'limitations',

there's a limit on what it can do or how good

it can be. 'Our show has certain limitations

' for example, it's only six minutes long!'

Tim: That's right - there's only time to present

six vocabulary items. Short but sweet!

Neil: And very intelligent, too. OK, the next

item is 'take something for granted', which

is when we don't realise how important something is.

Tim: 'We take our smartphones for granted

these days, but before 1995 hardly anyone

owned one.'

Neil: Number five - 'to implement' means to

perform a task, or take action.

Tim: 'Neil implemented some changes to the show.'

Neil: The final item is 'cutting edge' - new

and advanced - 'This software is cutting edge.'

Tim: 'The software uses cutting edge technology.'

Neil: OK - that's all we have time for on

today's cutting edge show. But please check

out our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

pages. Tim: Bye-bye!

Neil: Goodbye!