It is easy to imagine an enhanced Apple Siri or Amazon Alexa that engages in conversations with people to answer questions, fulfill commands and even anticipate needs. AI lacks the capability to understand, much less answer, many kinds of easy questions that we might pose to human assistants, agents, advisors and friends. Most such tools will easily offer a wealth of data, like possible routes, including distances, travel times, attractions, rest stops, and restaurants. But, as the noted AI researcher Roger Schank smartly lays out in a recent article, there are many aspects of this question that AI tools will not address adequately any time soon—but that any person could easily do so now. Understanding such limitations is key to understanding the near term potential of AI and what it really means to be “intelligent.”

Source: Forbes January 17, 2017 17:46 UTC