ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL

The late Professor Patrick Winston, former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Artificial Intelligence Lab said in a lecture: “Just as collections of people are smarter than any individual, I think collections of people and computers will be smarter than the computers and smarter than the people. And it’s those collections and partnerships that, I think, are where the most interesting applications lie.”

I think this concept is what most people misunderstand about AI; it is not simply that computers will replace humans. It is the concept that humans working with AI can expand the boundaries of what is possible. Just as the invention of the wheel allowed humans to augment our ability to move about the earth; AI has the potential to amplify our capabilities and creativity in business. 

As we grapple with understanding how AI and machine learning can play a positive role in the world, I found this 11 minute video to be a great explanation of just that. 

The video discusses a neural network that was used to review images of diabetic patients’ eyes to look for severe diabetic retinopathy.  One of the doctors in the video spoke about how certain communities may lack the trained specialists needed to perform this critical annual screening.