BOTS; THE FUTURE IS HERE
When I am prompted by Captcha, (did you even know it was an acronym for ‘Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart?), to type in the words I see while registering on a site or forgetting my password on another, I roll my eyes and wonder why the site would even think it was anything but human that was trying to register. That’s probably the Nigerian in me thinking. While not yet at the Star Wars level, where simple house cleaning tasks are assigned to robots and machines, the world over has been using these artificial intelligences and their potential is limitless. My oldest memory of the knowledge of artificial intelligence is watching a car assemblage on television back when I was a wee lad, and more recently, in medicine (which fascinates me a lot), seeing robots that can determine where what ails you is located on your body. Of course, the usage of AIs is not just limited to medicine and car assemblage. Just a few weeks ago, the internet was on fire with news about Fabio, the supermarket assistant who/that () was sacked, a real-life walking, talking robot (I don’t know what else you people were thinking).
The confusing usage of personal pronoun is pretty much that, CONFUSING. Artificial intelligences these days are programmed with personality to give them presence and make them pass more for living things. From robot puppies, to that Aunt’s voice that greets you when you settle in your car (voice activated digital assistants), to poor sacked Fabio; the codes written for these personalities are based on genetic algorithms with foundations in probability (see why you should have taken that Further Math class?). This is just the simplified version of the true work that goes into creating these personalities.
While program designers are careful to prevent machines from acting life-like because of user concerns about them being ‘too real’, an effect they term ‘uncanny valley’, shoppers where Fabio worked complained that he was ‘inefficient, not being very specific about where what is placed, and also freaked them out. This is a testament to the obvious fantastical expectations that we have – ‘you just can’t please these humans’. In the advent that usage of robotics finally permeates everyday life in Nigeria, I can’t stop imagining how one mama in Ekiti would demand pounded yam, and still demand that like a true ‘yoruba’ robot, it/she/he kneel while presenting the food. Still, bots are here to stay, and we best be prepared to receive them…with wide open arms.

Originally posted on http://www.lotusbetaanalytics.com/bots-the-future-is-here/