What Are the Great Computers?

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A computer has beaten the best chess player in the world. It's really gotten better at voice recognition, so I can talk to my assistant on my phone. The self-driving car thing is 90% of the way there but it takes 10% of the time and last 10% takes 90%. So we're not, we're not really close.

Computer Scientist and author Melanie Mitchell of Portland State University and the Santa Fe Institute talks about her book Artificial Intelligence with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Mitchell explains where we are today in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and where we might be going. Despite the hype and excitement surrounding AI, Mitchell argues that much of what is called "learning" and "intelligence" when done by machines is not analogous to human capabilities. The capabilities of machines are highly limited to explicit, narrow tasks with little transfer to similar but different challenges. Along the way, Mitchell explains some of the techniques used in AI and how progress has been made in many areas.