Ohne AI geht nicht's mehr

A.J. Jacobs schreibt für die New York Times:

In the kitchen, my wife, Julie, flicked on the lights. I flicked them off.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked, patiently.

“The energy grid uses machine learning to predict where the demand will be,” I explained.

I spared her the details — that Con Edison feeds data from more than four million electric meters into a proprietary A.I. program to assess voltage and prevent equipment failure, as a company spokesperson told me.

I told Julie there was no reason to worry, though: I had prepared for this eventuality by purchasing a portable solar-power generator. I plugged a lamp into it and lit up the kitchen with pride.

Brushing my teeth was more of a challenge — at least if I wanted to use water. The New York City reservoir system has a machine-learning tool that takes data from more than 1,600 sensors, which it combines with historic data. Scientists and engineers use those findings to help anticipate demand and make decisions about infrastructure repair.

But I was ready for my self-imposed drought. Like a doomsday prepper, I had been collecting rainwater in a bowl outside my window. I know — a bit ridiculous. But the absurdity helped me see the world with new eyes. I was spotting A.I. everywhere, as if I had an ultraviolet flashlight revealing all the germs we can’t see.

Ein äußerst unterhaltsamer und zugleich informativer Artikel, den ich jedem ans Herz legen kann (der Link oben funktioniert auch für Nicht-Abonnenten).