I think these exmples are largely worthless also. Every time I see something like this - I all but dismiss it. It seems like the aim/value proposition is to make life easier by removing decisions from our plate, but I feel like it is exchanging decisions for frustration when it doesn't work as promised, or worry about whether the decisions the system makes will be good ones.
I actually don't want a machine to make decisions for me. I want a machine to do what I tell it to do, or present me with I formation required to make a decision.
Examples: if I need a dentist appointment or to schedule maintenance for my air conditioning, I'd like to tell a machine to set it up. Heck, I'll even tell it who to call and which days and times work for me.
If I'm looking for a restaurant, show me the options, give me their distance, top reviews, and some of their dishes. If I want reservations, I'll tell it when and for how many.
Ideally, I want a "Jarvis" from "Iron Man". I ask questions, it gives data in a digestible quantity, and then I can make a decision and tell it what to do. Obviously, such a system is not available (yet), and these inferior systems are needed in order to make progress, and get there...eventually..but sometimes I wonder if the focus is on the right outcome, or just the broad strokes cookie cutter solution that comes to mind first (restaurant reservations). Similar to how all JavaScript MVC frameworks demo a to-do app, and rails tutorials demo'd a blog (initially)...
I mean, seriously... How often do you not go out to eat because you are too lazy or busy to make a reservation? Now, how many times do you skip oil changes, or making calls to cancel your cable service, because you don't want to make time in your day to stop what you're doing, pick up the phone, and call?
100% agree. I'd refine it slightly by saying it isn't just a recommendation we want, it is presenting us with the logic under the hood in terms of HOW it made the decision--not what the decision was.
If it told me it recommended the restaurants along with commentary like "you really liked X at another place, and this place has been voted to have comparable X, plus it is close by and you've had a long day and need to get up early tomorrow" that would be super useful and help me reach my own conclusion faster.
I actually don't want a machine to make decisions for me. I want a machine to do what I tell it to do, or present me with I formation required to make a decision.
Examples: if I need a dentist appointment or to schedule maintenance for my air conditioning, I'd like to tell a machine to set it up. Heck, I'll even tell it who to call and which days and times work for me.
If I'm looking for a restaurant, show me the options, give me their distance, top reviews, and some of their dishes. If I want reservations, I'll tell it when and for how many.
Ideally, I want a "Jarvis" from "Iron Man". I ask questions, it gives data in a digestible quantity, and then I can make a decision and tell it what to do. Obviously, such a system is not available (yet), and these inferior systems are needed in order to make progress, and get there...eventually..but sometimes I wonder if the focus is on the right outcome, or just the broad strokes cookie cutter solution that comes to mind first (restaurant reservations). Similar to how all JavaScript MVC frameworks demo a to-do app, and rails tutorials demo'd a blog (initially)...
I mean, seriously... How often do you not go out to eat because you are too lazy or busy to make a reservation? Now, how many times do you skip oil changes, or making calls to cancel your cable service, because you don't want to make time in your day to stop what you're doing, pick up the phone, and call?