Computers and Artificial Intelligence

Something is cooking in IBM’s ovens—a computer program intelligent enough to go head to head with human contestants of ‘Jeopardy!’ .

This will be a huge step for man in the field of artificial intelligence if they can make it work. Imagine the possibilities if we have computers that can understand human language and act based on that and an extensive database of stored information.

But understanding human speech is not an exact science and we still have a long way to go. There simply are things that computers will find hard to deduce.

For example, when a person says: “I did not steal the money.”, it means just that. But when the same person say: “I did not steal the money.” while emphasizing and putting a stress on the word I, it has the same meaning as the first statement but with an implied statement that someone else did. That the money was stolen is admitted.

If the person, instead, said: “I did not steal the money.” while emphasizing the word steal, he is saying the same thing as in the first but with the added meaning that he took it by other means such as by asking for it. He is saying that he has the money but that the taking is other than by stealing.

Had the emphasis been on money, it will mean: “I did not steal the money.” (I stole something else.)

Distinguishing the different meanings from the same statement based mainly on where the emphasis is placed is a tough job. It might be doable but maybe not today.

So, can the burst suggest an orchestral microprocessor?