Design and Architecture
Watson Mixes Drinks; Streetfight: Moses, Jacobs, Sadik-Khan
Is artificial intelligence a threat to "human culture and history" or a pleasant addition to it? DnA meets Watson and considers the implications of assistance from 'cognitive computing' in our daily lives. Plus, a new opera dramatizes the epic battle between Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and Janette Sadik-Khan continues the fight over the streets of New York.
By Frances Anderton • • 29m ListenArtificial intelligence threatens to "destroy human history and culture," wrote a Korean journalist after champion Go player Lee Se-dol lost to Google’s AlphaGo A. But IBM offers a friendlier picture: with a little help from Watson’s cognitive computing, we will have more interesting cocktails and gift choices. Is that what we need, and does Watson get it right? Plus, a new opera dramatizes the epic battle between Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and Janette Sadik-Khan continues the fight over the streets of New York, employing the might of Moses and the human scale of Jacobs.
Photo: Pepper, the face of AI
