Quick Answers

Photo by Yukterez (Simon Tyran, Vienna). Source material for the Milky way background (also available on Commons): ESO/S.Brunier. Code for the relativistic raytracer and other angles: yukterez.net, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

For quick answers by voice, my goto is Google Assistant.

It’s ability to find the answer to a question and summarize it to a soundbite of less than 10 seconds is impressive. The shear amount of effort required to understand the question, find the source, and then create a summary is stupefying.

Sure, Siri and Alexa are able to find information and answer most basic questions, but it’s Google that triumphs in a contest of both the breadth and depth of information it can pull up.

I’m wondering if in heading towards the Singularity, it might be some tech companies that start to pull ahead of others at a faster rate, especially when it comes to implementation of AI. In a real singularity (a black hole), particles located slightly closer to the centre will start to accelerate faster. Soon, the only thing left of any matter that gets sucked in is a think thread of plasma.

So too with tech companies and their AI. The advantages some may benefit in developing AI might pull them at an accelerating rate to the entire pack. It will be a runaway.

Let’s hope, however, that reaching the Singularity isn’t a winner take all game and not a first to win game either. Perhaps we need to start setting the rules for this scenario before we get too far ahead.