🔮 Can We Trust Predictive AI?
When it comes to artificial intelligence, people often think of generative AI, like ChatGPT. However, another type of AI—predictive AI—has been subtly influencing many aspects of our lives for quite some time.
This type of AI is the focus of questions raised by computer science researchers Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor from Princeton University in their book "AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference."
❓ Who Checks the Predictions?
Narayanan and Kapoor recall the evaluation results of the AI system Retorio. Its creators claim the program predicts a person's professional success based on a video call interview recording.
However, it turned out that wearing glasses, a scarf, or sitting in front of some bookshelves drastically changed the candidate's score. "Obviously, wearing glasses does not change someone's capability to perform well at a job," the authors write. In their opinion, Retorio is an example of "snake oil"—misleading marketing.
🩹 An Error Could Be Life-Threatening
One experimental medical prediction system was supposed to determine whether pneumonia patients should be kept overnight in the hospital. The system noticed that patients with asthma recovered faster and recommended sending them home, assuming their condition did not require hospitalization.
In reality, asthmatics are at high risk. When contracting pneumonia, they are immediately sent to intensive care and receive enhanced treatment. The AI failed to understand this logic.
📌 Why Is This Important?
These examples highlight that predictive AI systems, even if capable of making accurate predictions, do not always understand their context. Therefore, relying on the advice of such systems without proper expert oversight is, at best, unreliable and, at worst, dangerous.
More on the topic:
🦠 AI Predicts the Next Pandemic
😱 Ray Kurzweil on How Our Consciousness Will Live Forever in the Cloud
#news #mustread @hiaimediaen
When it comes to artificial intelligence, people often think of generative AI, like ChatGPT. However, another type of AI—predictive AI—has been subtly influencing many aspects of our lives for quite some time.
This type of AI is the focus of questions raised by computer science researchers Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor from Princeton University in their book "AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference."
❓ Who Checks the Predictions?
Narayanan and Kapoor recall the evaluation results of the AI system Retorio. Its creators claim the program predicts a person's professional success based on a video call interview recording.
However, it turned out that wearing glasses, a scarf, or sitting in front of some bookshelves drastically changed the candidate's score. "Obviously, wearing glasses does not change someone's capability to perform well at a job," the authors write. In their opinion, Retorio is an example of "snake oil"—misleading marketing.
🩹 An Error Could Be Life-Threatening
One experimental medical prediction system was supposed to determine whether pneumonia patients should be kept overnight in the hospital. The system noticed that patients with asthma recovered faster and recommended sending them home, assuming their condition did not require hospitalization.
In reality, asthmatics are at high risk. When contracting pneumonia, they are immediately sent to intensive care and receive enhanced treatment. The AI failed to understand this logic.
📌 Why Is This Important?
These examples highlight that predictive AI systems, even if capable of making accurate predictions, do not always understand their context. Therefore, relying on the advice of such systems without proper expert oversight is, at best, unreliable and, at worst, dangerous.
More on the topic:
🦠 AI Predicts the Next Pandemic
😱 Ray Kurzweil on How Our Consciousness Will Live Forever in the Cloud
#news #mustread @hiaimediaen