Google has announced a revolutionary new initiative that intends to change the face of artificial intelligence forever. Last week the company unveiled the People + AI Research Initiative (PAIR). The goal of PAIR to take artificial intelligence to the next level, and change how people interact with it. This could have enormous implications for the entire realm of AI, and for Google’s future in particular.
PAIR will take numerous Google scientists, engineers, and researchers and join them together to bring a little more humanity into artificial intelligence. But Google doesn’t want to simply publish research; the company instead intends to create a whole host of open source tools focusing on AI.
PAIR has been broken down into three specific areas of research, each of which will focus on specific user needs and how to best meet them. These three areas are engineers and researchers, domain experts, and everyday users. While every group has vastly different needs and desires, PAIR hopes to find common ground and unite all these differences into workable and effective technology.
For engineers and researchers, the focus will be on how to make building and comprehending these machines easier. It will be about simplifying the process and making it more accessible to those who want to understand and learn about this technology. When it comes to domain experts, Google is interested in how artificial intelligence can be used to help professionals in their work. And as for everyday users, PAIR wants to ensure that they’re getting the most out of the artificial intelligence experience. The initiative is interested in the specifics of how this technology can help connect people, and what any innovations might mean for regular users.
Education is a significant part of PAIR. Across all three sections, educational material and learning opportunities are heavily emphasized. Google wants this to be an immersive shared experience that can teach people how to use and interact with their technology. The human-AI experience has changed rapidly in a relatively short time, and there is a steep learning curve as a result. As this technology becomes more prevalent, it also needs to remain accessible. PAIR hopes to accomplish this with a combination of thinking outside the box, humanizing artificial intelligence, and providing people with the open source tools to make the most of these technological innovations.
PAIR is an exciting step forward for both Google and artificial intelligence; it will be interesting to see what this initiative accomplishes.
