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!