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They probably weren’t inspired by [Jeff Dunham’s] jalapeno on a stick, but Intel have created the Movidius neural compute stick which is in effect a neural network in a USB stick form factor. They don’t rely on the cloud, they require no fan, and you can get one for well under $100.
What distinguishes AI systems on a chip from traditional mobile processors is that they come with specialized neural-network processors, such as graphics processing units or GPUs, tensor processing units or TPUs, and field programming gate arrays or FPGAs. These AI-optimized chips offload neural-network processing from the device’s central processing unit chip, enabling more local autonomous AI processing
Are we about to see another computing revolution and what will the technological and sociopolitical landscape look like after this?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 30 2018, @12:26PM (2 children)
In a way, you're kinda making my point for me, that the original solution of cash on the barrel let the host focus on interpersonal hosting social interaction instead of ever more detailed and intrusive impersonal accounting analysis which can be slightly mitigated via ever more complicated and harder to use tech, but the root cause is not nearly improved. The long term goal is for the average restaurant server to spend almost all their time typing up TPS report header change memos and follow banking KYC detailed documentation and reporting guidelines for ever more abstract payment methods, while the food is ordered by the victim ^H ^H ^H customer on a tablet/phone and a robot drone delivers it.
The fundamental failure with the model is putting way too much effort into turning hosting entertainers into ever better accounting clerks with ever more elaborate accounting systems. No POS system features ever lured in customers unlike wearing 37 pieces of flair or breast-aurants or whatever goofy gimmick sells microwaved Sams Club "food".
In all honesty much like nicer restaurants have long had specialized labor to cook, clean, tend bar and mix weird drinks, bust tables, serve wine, all manner of tasks, "real" restaurants would be better served by having servers serve while some accounting dude handles nothing but payment and weird special orders, such that if some goofball wants to take out a payday loan using a wire transfer of Danish Kroner as collateral to pay for dinner and drinks, well, fine, there's a real accounting clerk dedicated to weird accounting tasks while the servers focus on serving.
A lot of recent propaganda that AI is going to result in everyone getting fired.
In a nutshell, thats exactly the TPS report header middle management infighting lack of productivity combined with a healthy dose of trying to turn restaurant servers into some weird variation of human portable ATM or wanna be credit union desk clerk.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 30 2018, @01:49PM (1 child)
If it works, then who cares if it is weird? The problem here is that you are operating under the assumption that these jobs are less efficient and productive than they were. That often is the case, but it's not always the case.
And let us keep in mind that businesses are universally not in the habit of giving money away. They perceive value to be had from employing people to chase TPS reports or whatever. Those perceptions are sometimes in error, but not because they feel the need to keep someone cooling their heels on some zero-productivity activity.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 30 2018, @02:32PM
Surely the maximum efficiency productivity and profit model for a restaurant is McDonalds but it would be really sad if every other restaurant experience in the world disappeared.
In sole proprietor businesses the guy making operational decisions is the guy wanting profit, in any larger structure the two goals are further apart, such that in hyper merger modern world the dude who wants profit is like 15 levels of management away from the dude who wants power or an easier day at work or just wants to pencil whip the whole thing. The old commie model of "we pretend to work they pretend to pay us" isn't really strictly speaking commie, its more a feature of large hyper-merged corporations. So yeah, the lectures in the movie "office space" about number of pieces of flair or TPS report headers have nothing to do with making money, and thats not an exception but more of a general rule.
And... bringing it all back around to the original topic, thats how AI is going to be deployed, not to make money and unemploy everyone but to implement more bad decisions faster, more or less. Kinda like the role of modern (post 2010 era) IT in a business.