In the sitcom Cheers, the bartender Sam Malone pitched for the Boston Red Sox. What was his most notable accomplishment?
It’s not an easy question, but it’s not a bit of trivia I choose to inflict. This is a test I put to artificial intelligence programs.
What makes the question challenging are the variables. Sam Malone is fictitious; the Red Sox are real. Baseball is real, but the character’s accomplishments are not. The achievement in question, which at the time hadn’t been done since 1962, is statistically remarkable, but it is insignificant in the character’s persona – it is a contextual aside in only one episode. The answer is hard to find with most keyword searches. And, that he did it as a Red Sox player, well, is just awesome.
As AI programs started to become widely available, I’d hit them up with this question. Each time they’d get it wrong. Sometimes, the programs would just make things up, as my phone’s just did right now when asked.
AI has proliferated to a staggering level. To a discerning eye, you see its digital fingerprints everywhere. It’s writing news stories, and creating videos, photos and graphics. It’s being used not only in a research capacity but as advisors. There are AI programs that serve as personal assistants. There are even AI virtual partners — as in girlfriends and boyfriends.
We are living the plot lines of a ton of science fiction books and movies. Let’s hope the story plays out more Her and less Matrix.
If the young can provide a glimpse of what’s to come, kids are using AI to assist with/do their schoolwork in ways that feel troublesome. Who can blame them? It’s comprehensive, versatile and fast. There was a time people were expected to perform mathematical chores with pencil and paper; today, it’s been outsourced to spreadsheets and other programs.
There’s a difference between intelligence, artificial or actual, and wisdom. Intelligence is knowledge acquired through discovery (education, research and word of mouth); wisdom is knowledge acquired through experience. Or, as my wife’s uncle recently said: “Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing it doesn’t belong in a fruit salad.”
Humans are losing the intelligence contest to the machines. We need to turn our attention on the wisdom part of thought. While this has been traditionally a topic for academics, philosophers, religious leaders and other cultural pooh-bahs, humanity’s record on the wisdom front has been hit or miss, depending on the time – an overall “C-” if you ask me. We need to seriously pin down the meaning and purpose of life before the machines determine it for us.
So, Sam Malone…
The fictional bartender’s most memorable accomplishment as a member of the Boston Red Sox was closing out both ends of a double header against the Baltimore Orioles in 1972.
I just asked another version of AI, and this one got it right. I followed up with: “Why is this a good question to ask AI?”
It replied: “In short, it’s a great question because it’s a piece of fun, specific, and slightly complex fictional lore that requires an AI to recall, verify, and prioritize details from a vast database of television information.” AI upgrades quickly.