Awkward Intelligence: Where AI Goes Wrong, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do about It

An expert offers a guide to where we should use artificial intelligence--and where we should not.

Before we know it, artificial intelligence (AI) will work its way into every corner of our lives, making decisions about, with, and for us. Is this a good thing? There's a tendency to think that machines can be more "objective" than humans--can make better decisions about job applicants, for example, or risk assessments. In Awkward Intelligence, AI expert Katharina Zweig offers readers the inside story, explaining how many levers computer and data scientists must pull for AI's supposedly objective decision making. She presents the good and the bad: AI is good at processing vast quantities of data that humans cannot--but it's bad at making judgments about people.
AI is accurate at sifting through billions of websites to offer up the best results for our search queries and it has beaten reigning champions in games of chess and Go. But, drawing on her own research, Zweig shows how inaccurate AI is, for example, at predicting whether someone with a previous conviction will become a repeat offender. It's no better than simple guesswork, and yet it's used to determine people's futures.
Zweig introduces readers to the basics of AI and presents a toolkit for designing AI systems. She explains algorithms, big data, and computer intelligence, and how they relate to one another. Finally, she explores the ethics of AI and how we can shape the process. With Awkward Intelligence. Zweig equips us to confront the biggest question concerning AI: where we should use it--and where we should not.

一位專家提供了一個指南，告訴我們應該在哪裡使用人工智慧，以及不應該使用的地方。

在我們意識到之前，人工智慧（AI）將逐漸融入我們生活的每個角落，為我們做出決策。這是一件好事嗎？人們往往認為機器比人類更「客觀」，例如在招聘工作申請者或風險評估方面做出更好的決策。在《尷尬的智能》一書中，AI專家Katharina Zweig向讀者揭示了內幕，解釋了計算機和數據科學家必須掌握的許多技巧，以實現AI的所謂客觀決策。她介紹了好的和壞的方面：AI擅長處理人類無法處理的大量數據，但在對人們做出判斷方面表現不佳。

AI在篩選數十億個網站以提供我們搜索查詢的最佳結果方面非常準確，並且在國際象棋和圍棋比賽中擊敗了現任冠軍。但是，根據她自己的研究，Zweig展示了AI在預測有前科的人是否會再次犯罪方面的不準確性。它不比簡單的猜測更好，但卻被用來決定人們的未來。

Zweig向讀者介紹了AI的基礎知識，並提供了設計AI系統的工具。她解釋了算法、大數據和計算機智能以及它們之間的關係。最後，她探討了AI的倫理問題以及我們如何塑造這個過程。通過《尷尬的智能》，Zweig使我們能夠面對關於AI最重要的問題：我們應該在哪裡使用它，以及不應該使用它。

Katharina A. Zweig is Professor of Computer Science at the TU Kaiserslautern in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Katharina A. Zweig 是德國凱撒斯勞滕的凱撒斯勞滕工業大學的計算機科學教授。