Translator: David DeRuwe Reviewer: Claudia Sander
Every time I talk about artificial intelligence,
the question that always comes up is this:
"Will the machines kill the humans?"
And I keep thinking, "Why is this on our minds?"
I imagine it's because we see so many movies
with battles where the machines kill the men,
intergalactic movies where a robot wipes out an entire army of human beings.
Is that why?
The truth is I have another reflection
and a provocation for all of you.
When we hear so much news of all that's happening around the world
that's outside of our daily reality,
and when we hear about incredible experiences
like we heard today, the question is: "Who's our true enemy?
Today, who's putting everything at risk?
Who's threatening Mother Nature?
Who's threatening our planet?
Could it really be the machines?
Or could it be us, the humans?
Our human race?"
So, when I make this reflection, and come back to this question,
there's a bit of a "landing."
When we look at so much news,
in fact, we're at a very unique moment
in the evolution of human beings.
First, we have an overpopulation that's never existed before.
We see absurd stories about ethics violations.
How many stories have we heard here today
that we can't believe are happening in 2019?
And in the economic world?
We look at the concentration of the planet's riches
in the hands of a smaller and smaller number of people,
whereas on the other side of the balance, we see poverty
spreading everywhere.
That's why I say, "People, can machines really be such a big threat?"
Well, let me tell you that I don't think so.
I don't believe it,
and I think this is where technology has a fundamental role.
Everybody who's been on this stage already today
and who will talk later,
is talking to everybody in this room,
but, thanks to technology, hundreds or even thousands will hear these stories,
be it today, or be it later via video.
They'll hear these stories
that will touch the hearts of so many other people,
who will identify and will cry, like many of us cried today.
So, technology is part of this evolution
and will have, really, a fundamental role,
and in the midst of so many technology options,
artificial intelligence, for me,
will play the starring role.
And why will it play the starring role?
I need to explain to you, a little about what artificial intelligence is.
I'll really only give you a glimpse
and say that, first of all, artificial intelligence is not magic,
and it's not a product that you'll go to the store and buy off the shelf,
not even in a virtual store.
It won't be there.
What happens is that artificial intelligence is a system.
And, for me, this system is like a baby in its infancy.
It's a baby that needs to be taught.
Depending what we teach babies,
babies will grow up and turn into human beings
with different values and experience bases.
Isn't that right?
Artificial intelligence isn't any different.
What happens is that we have to teach the artificial intelligence.
And today, it's still a baby.
It's starting to crawl, it's not even walking around.
And what happens is that we must teach this intelligence
so that it has the values that we think it should have.
I have to pass information on to it,
and teach it to respect and have ethics.
And this is a challenge.
Well, I will make a provocation here ...
another provocation for you.
How many of you took a picture today?
Everybody. Who didn't take one?
Did someone here record a video?
Everyone.
Posted on social networks?
Yes!
Interacted on social networks, in groups, right?
Well, do you have an idea of how much information you generated
only this morning?
Any idea?
No? So.
When I say I have to teach artificial intelligence,
how am I going to teach it?
Through data.
I can talk about data which, in the tech world, is just zeros and ones.
Or I can teach it in the way that we, humans, interact.
With voice, images, videos ...
and this is what makes us have such a large volume of data
in the whole world.
Today, studies show we are generating
2.5 quintillion bytes per day.
Right there, you're saying, "She's using a ton of techie talk."
Let me give you an idea of how much this is.
We are talking about 550 billion songs per day, people!
Per day.
Or, perhaps, for those who like movies,
we're talking about 383 million movies per day.
And, if we go to the star world,
when we look at the sky,
we're talking about generating 8 million times more bytes
than there are stars, each day,
and we all contribute to this number.
Even me, a super Star Wars fan,
can't imagine an interspatial voyage
getting to know 8 million times the number of stars that exist today.
It's a lot.
This is the volume of information that's available today in our networks,
on our cell phones.
And the great challenge is:
how much of this is true?
How much of this is fake news?
How can I differentiate what's true from what isn't?
How do I digest this?
There's a ton of garbage inside all this, isn't there?
So what?
So, I'll play a game with you.
Who here can give me examples of two-toed ungulates,
other than giraffes?
Anyone?
No?
Wow, people!
Well, let's find out!
Don't do this now, but if you were to go online
to make a search on "two-toed ungulats, not giraffes,"
which animal do you think would appear most on your screen?
Giraffes.
But wait, didn't I want examples other than giraffes?
Why is this?
Because, today, the traditional systems will look, and this is interesting,
first, they'll say, "Did you mean two-toed ungulates" because I misspelled it ...
it's ungulates with "es," isn't it?
And it will tell me this, right?
When I do the search, it will say, "You didn't search on the right word.
The word is wrong; it's wrong what you typed."
But it will bring me giraffe.
Why? Because it's a keyword.
In an artificial intelligence system,
the moment that I teach the system what a two-toed ungulate is,
it will bring a list, for example,
telling me about cows, pigs, llamas ...
Then you'll ask me, "And what is it?"
You can try this later, OK?
Not now.
So, this is an example of how the system functions.
In this simple example, artificial intelligence thinks
and it rationalizes,
similar to a baby.
I teach it; it speaks.
It has an enormous capability to learn.
It hears and it thinks.
So, this is the difference.
In this silly example of the giraffe, it understood the context
and understood that I was searching for whatever other example
other than a giraffe.
So, the result is different.
Is it getting a little clearer?
Well, I'll talk about some examples also,
other examples from projects that I personally worked on
that are very interesting.
Inside these artificial intelligence systems,
the recognition of an image is one of these functions.
There is a little box of tools we use
in artificial intelligence systems, and image recognition is one of them.
Three years ago, I participated in a project
at the biggest pop culture event we have here in Brazil,
and we made a system to help the judges to validate,
in a cosplay contest,
who was scoring the most points and who was the big winner.
How did we do this?
We taught the artificial intelligence system
to understand the characters.
We filled the system with approximately
500 images of all the participants,
and we uploaded it with photos
we were taking of the participants,
and we were teaching it to make comparisons and keep score.
There I have a knowledge base that I teach to the system,
and it takes the information and compares.
This is an example.
Now, even cooler,
is we can take this same technology,
and use it in cancer treatment projects.
It's exactly the same technology,
only that, now, we're talking about health professionals,
and this technology helps oncologists,
to analyze images and radiography to identify
possible malignant cells
from the patient's exam results.
Now, besides this, what else can we do?
Did you know that the amount of currently existing medical literature
doubles every 73 days?
That's a lot of information.
It's how much research is happening worldwide.
It's how much medication and treatment there is.
And it's practically impossible for a doctor
to know everything that's out there all the time.
So, this is a project where we put
a tool into the professional's hand that will help identify
what is the best treatment for each patient
based upon their exam results.
This helps to give information
because the final decision is the doctor's,
and he or she will decide what the best treatment is.
Another technological example that falls under the umbrella
of artificial intelligence systems has a different name,
Internet of Things, or IoT, as the geek world calls it,
and also the technology world.
IoT is the Internet of Things.
This project was in the area of car insurance.
So, we put a small device in the car
where you find the cigarette lighter.
It's a small device with a sensor that measures the car's speed.
At the insurer's center, there's a big control panel.
When the insured car is moving at a velocity
of, let's say, 60 km/h, and in 2 seconds, it falls to 0 km/h,
there's been an accident.
Two seconds signifies an accident, and the center receives an alert.
They send a tow truck or something to the scene,
even before the person calls the insurer.
Now, this same sensor also has a device,
controlled by the axle of the car, and if it discovers that there's been
a movement of the axle which could indicate a rollover,
they also send out an ambulance
because the motorist could be unconscious.
So, these systems are examples of what already exists today.
This isn't tomorrow; this isn't futuristic;
this is today.
Artificial intelligence, in fact, is here to help us.
And that's what I believe.
With so many challenges to face, it's here to help us,
only it will depend on each one of us.
What are we teaching our children?
What are we teaching to artificial intelligence systems?
I believe it's here to help us,
as in these examples that I showed you,
models and real examples of integration and helping each other.
Now, to end up, has somebody already learned an artificial intelligence system?
No?
Ah, there's one hand ... two hands!
OK! Would you like to see?
Audience: Yes!
Jeni Shih: So, let's do it.
And we'll see if the Internet helps because we already saw here
that all technology comes along with a thing called Murphy,
and, if the network also helps ...
Here, in my cellphone -
and the goal of all this, really, is that it be in your hands -
I have ...
I'm not going to talk ... let's let it talk,
First, I'll test the sound to see if it's OK.
Sound test.
Artificial Intelligence: I think it's very noisy,
could you please repeat?
JS: Look, she's listening and she's coming out there.
Who are you?
AI: Hi, I'm Watson, an artificial intelligence platform,
and it's a great pleasure to be here at TEDx in Porto Alegre.
JS: Look, she knows we're in Porto Alegre.
(Applause)
I made a check-in on Facebook.
so she knows I'm here.
What can you do?
AI: I can understand diverse forms of data,
for example, texts, images, and voice.
I can learn, rationalize, and interact in natural language with all of you.
JS: Look at this!
And, you see, didn't I talk about cars?
Let's see.
You know how to recognize images, yes?
AI: Yes, I can.
If an alert light is lit on the car's panel,
the motorist can take a photo with the cell phone,
and I'll explain what it means,
researching my knowledge base of the cognitive manual.
Couldn't be easier, right?
JS: Look,
(Cheers)
I don't know about you,
but I know when the little light comes on the car's dashboard, and I don't know why,
my first job is to find my glasses inside my bag
because I don't see already.
Then, I go get the manual,
and search for the right page to find out about that signal,
until I discover what that little light is trying to tell me.
People, I believe that, in fact, technology is here to help us.
Because we have many challenges,
we have gigantic challenges,
we're hearing marvelous stories today,
and we need help.
The technology will help take us to many places
we wouldn't imagine we could be going.
Thank you!
(Applause) (Cheers)