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"One AI pioneer said learning the basics of coding and AI could be key to income equality and opportunity in the future" reports Molly Wood and Kristin Schwab.
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| A visitor holds a hand of an AILA, or Artificial Intelligence Lightweight Android. Photo: CARSTEN KOALL/AFP/Getty Images |
We talk about artificial intelligence and
intelligent machines as if killer robots loom just around the corner.
But if we all learned the basics of AI programming, would we be less
scared of it?
AI pioneer Andrew Ng is the
co-founder of Coursera, an online education company that is offering
classes in deep learning, a type of machine learning inspired by the
brain. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talked to Ng about what this
means and why he believes basic AI education should become a standard.
Below is an edited excerpt of their conversation.
Molly Wood:
I know that this is a growing area of importance and I wonder is it
analogous to predictions that there will be people who know how to code
and don’t know how to code? Like, in the future will we be split into
two groups: the ones who know how to create smart machines and the ones
who don’t?
Andrew Ng: Once
upon a time I think we used to have debates about whether all of
society needs to be literate. And today we’ve figured out that it’s
actually good if everyone knows how to read and write. In the future I
think that it would be good if almost everyone knows how to code.
Literacy is a great way for people to communicate. And computer literacy
or learning the basis of coding is a good way for humans and machines
to communicate. And I would love a future where even the proprietors of a
mom and pop store can write a little bit of code so that they can
customize the display in their shop window. I think we have a long way
to go in society to teach a lot more people to code and I don’t see a
shortage of work.
Wood: We
now think of reading as pretty easy to learn, that the vast majority of
people should be able to learn by age five or six. Is coding similar in
terms of difficulty?
Ng: I
believe, and science seems to support this, that almost anyone can
learn almost anything. And certainly I think a lot of people, almost
everyone, can learn to code and learn to build AI systems.
Wood: What kind of prerequisites are there to learn about deep learning? I assume I should not sign up for this course.
Ng: To
jump into the deep learning AI course you need basic programming
knowledge and a little bit of prior experience with machine learning. I
would hope that even if you don’t have that and just know how to write
simple code that you might be able to follow along with the course.
Wood: I
think there’s been a lot of hype around AI, it’s almost a buzzword.
Like you hear companies essential say, “I put some AI in it and now it’s
way better!” But it’s hard I think to sometimes understand what that
really means. Do you have some examples of what systems, what products
artificial intelligence might actually change?
Ng: One funny thing about AI is that once
it works people seem to stop thinking about it as AI. A part of me
thinks that when we actually have self-driving cars – these AI
self-driving cars that seem so sexy and exciting today – I hope that
when we reach that day you just think of it as your car. It won’t be an
AI-powered car anymore.
Wood: And you’ve
also said, on the topic of drivers and many others, that Silicon Valley
needs to recognize that this technology is going to take a lot of jobs
away. What sort of responsibility do you feel in that area?
Ng: People
don’t like this term, but I think the East and West Coast, quote,
"elites," create a lot of wealth. They’re actually very good at that.
But I think to be plenty honest we may have also left some of the
country behind. So if we want to create not just a wealthy society but
also a fairer one, I think there’s important work ahead of us. The
solution I favor is conditional basic income where we have the
government support people to keep learning so that anyone who loses a
job has a better chance of learning what they need in order to reenter
the workforce and contribute to the tax base that’s paying for all this.
You know, I think there’s a lot to be said about the dignity of work.
And we should put in place the support for people to learn what they
need so that every man and every woman has a shot at being able to do
meaningful work.
Source: Marketplace.org
