Intelligence Everywhere Part 2

I mentioned in a previous post that I would share a bit more about the talk Sue gave at the User-Centred Design Conference. The Powerpoint that accompanied the actual talk itself may well be available in the future, but I really found the three models of AI Sue talked about very interesting.

All art by Susan Cook.

Essentially, the point was that the 'Internet of Things' is currently characterised by the devices that are connected; the coffee maker that brews your morning cuppa, or the fridge that orders milk when it's run out. But to link all those devices together, and to help them work seamlessly with us, there would need to be some sort of controlling intelligence. AI would fit into this role, but what would it look like?

The Master of the Mundane filters information.

The first possibility was 'The Master of the Mundane', a personal assistant for my life. It would intelligently filter out the stuff that sucks, like bills and spam, and pass on to me things that it can't deal with on its own. It's technology that we already see in things like banking apps and in X.AI's virtual assistant. We're already almost using this model of AI; it's just not quite there yet.

The Housekeeper of Me manages Internet of Things things.

The second one is 'The Housekeeper of Me' and it's subtly different to the first one. This AI would have only one avatar at a time and would jump from body to body in order to better help its users. I could talk about this one for a while, but I'd rather point you in the direction of the next episode of Pocket Fiction, when it comes out on Friday. The story I'll tell there was designed to illustrate this model of AI.

The Alter Ego would be a creative partner.

The last one is probably the one you'd be most familiar with as a concept. It's a well-rounded person, characterised as 'The Alter Ego', but when we were planning for the talk it was also known as 'The Friend with Excellent Taste'. It complements you, adding to your creative work, but is also inventive and exciting in its own right - think Jarvis from Iron Man.

Probably my favourite picture from the talk!

Ultimately we concluded that the AI of the future probably won't look exactly like any one of these. It's more likely to be a union of all three, some sort of hybrid. But whatever it will be, it will be incredibly exciting - and fun to write about!