Artificial Intelligence
June 19, 2008 – 10:10 pm by BHEric Horvitz, a principal researcher at Microsoft (MSFT), has spent more than a decade creating artificial-intelligence systems that observe humans at work. These software programs, which reside on computers and various handheld gadgets, watch and listen to the user, tracking digital calendars and noting key contacts. And they apply mathematical formulas known as Bayesian probability models to predict the cost and benefit of interrupting someone at work. Having served as a guinea pig, Horvitz considers his latest prototype a trusted “presence.” Recently, he received an urgent e-mail from a new intern. His e-mail triage program, called Priorities, ranked the message 100—a perfect score on a timeliness scale of 1-100. That afternoon, an announcement of “free food” down the hall ranked an ignorable 6.
From BusinessWeek. Your boss does not want you to be distracted and soon your computer will actively ensure you’re not. Of course, then we’ll only work 1/3 as many hours since our heads would expode if we were actually productive for 40 hours a week.
