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My neighbor's kid asked me if his toy robot was smarter than our new AI assistant
I was helping him with a school project about machines, and he pointed to his little plastic robot and said, 'This one can walk, but the one in your house just talks. Which one is more smart?' It made me stop and think about how we define intelligence in technology. What's a simple way you've had to explain a complex AI concept to someone?
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thea_chen1mo ago
Oh man, that's a good question from a kid. I usually just say the talking one knows a lot of facts, but the walking one knows how to not fall over. It's different kinds of smart, I guess.
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sam_walker1mo ago
Exactly. It's like book smarts versus street smarts, but for robots.
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wendy_garcia162d ago
Right, because apparently we've reached the point where robots need a guidance counselor to figure out their career path. "Well, little Timmy, your Atlas robot has EXCELLENT balance but its conversational skills are... lacking." Might as well just tell the kid the truth: the walking one is too busy trying NOT to smash into a wall to worry about telling you the square root of pi. It's like asking if a forklift is smarter than a calculator. Seriously though, that's a SOLID explanation for a kid. Keeps it simple and doesn't make them overthink it like we all do.
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