Inspring,chickensstartlayingagain,bringingawelcomesourceofproteinatwinter’send.Soit’snosurprisethatculturesaroundtheworldcelebratespringbyhonoringtheegg.Sometraditionsaresimple,liketheredeggsthatgetbakedintoGreekEasterbreads.Otherselevatetheeggintoafancyart,liketheheavilyjewel-covered“eggs”thatwerefavoredbytheRussiansstartinginthe19thcentury.OneancientformofeggartcomestousfromUkraine.Forcenturies,Ukrainianshavebeendrawingcomplicatedpatternsoneggs.Contemporaryartistshavefollowedthistraditiontocreateeggsthatspeaktotheanxietiesofourage:Lifeisprecious,anddelicate.Eggsare,too.“There’ssomethingabouttheirdelicatenaturethatappealstome,”saysNewYorkercartoonistRozChast.Severalyearsago,shebecameinterestedineggsandlearnedthetraditionalUkrainiantechniquetodrawherverymodemcharacters.“I’vebrokeneggsateverystageoftheprocess—fromtheverybeginningtothevery,veryend.”Butthere’sanappealinthatvulnerability.“There’spartofthissickeninghorrorofknowingyou’rewalkingontheedgewiththis,thatIkindoflike,knowingthatitcouldallfallapartatanysecond.”Chast’sdesigns,suchasaworriedmanaloneinatinyrowboat,reflectthatdelicateness.TraditionalUkrainiandecoratedeggsalsospoketothosefears.Theelaboratepatternswerebelievedtoofferprotectionagainstevil.“There’sanancientlegendthataslongastheseeggsaremade,evilwillnotprevailintheworld,”saysJoanBrander,aCanadianegg-painterwhohasbeenpaintingeggsforover60years,havinglearnedtheartfromherUkrainianrelatives.Thetradition,datingbackto300B.C.,waslaterincorporatedintotheChristianchurch.Theoldsymbols,however,stillendure.Adecoratedeggwithabirdonit,giventoayoungmarriedcouple,isawishforchildren.Adecoratedeggthrownintothefieldwouldbeawishforagoodharvest.10.Whatdowelearnfromthepassageaboutegg-painting?
ProfessorAshokGoelofGeorgiaTechdevelopedanartificiallyintelligentteachingassistanttohelphandletheenormousnumberofstudentquestionsintheonlineclass,Knowledge-BasedArtificialIntelligence.ThisonlinecourseisacorerequirementofGeorgiaTech’sonlineMasterofScienceinComputerScienceprogram.ProfessorGoelalreadyhadeightteachingassistants,butthatwasn’tenoughtodealwiththeoverwhelmingnumberofdailyquestionsfromstudents.Manystudentsdropoutofonlinecoursesbecauseofthelackofteachingsupport.Whenstudentsfeelisolatedorconfusedandreachoutwithquestionsthatgounanswered,theirmotivationtocontinuebeginstofade.ProfessorGoeldecidedtodosomethingtoremedythissituationandhissolutionwastocreateavirtualassistantnamedJillWatson,whichisbasedontheIBMWatsonplatform.GoelandhisteamdevelopedseveralversionsofJillWatsonbeforereleasinghertotheonlineforums.Atfirst,thevirtualassistantwasn’ttoogreat.ButGoelandhisteamsourcedtheonlinediscussionforumtofindallthe40,000questionsthathadeverbeenaskedsincetheclasswaslaunched.ThentheybegantofeedJillwiththequestionsandanswers.Aftersomeadjustmentsandsufficienttime,Jillwasabletoanswerthestudents’questionscorrectly97%ofthetime.Thevirtualassistantbecamesoadvancedandrealisticthatthestudentsdidn’tknowshewasacomputer.Thestudents,whowerestudyingartificialintelligence,wereinteractingwiththevirtualassistantandcouldn’ttellitapartfromarealhumanbeing.Goeldidn’tinformthemaboutJill’strueidentityuntilApril26.Thestudentswereactuallyverypositiveabouttheexperience.ThegoalofProfessorGoel’svirtualassistantnextyearistotakeoveranswering40%ofallthequestionsposedbystudentsontheonlineforum.ThenameJillWatsonwill,ofcourse,changetosomethingelsenextsemester.ProfessorGoelhasamuchrosieroutlookonthefutureofartificialintelligencethan,say,ElonMusk,StephenHawking,BillGatesorSteveWozniak.20.WhatdoesProfessorGoelplantodonextwithJillWatson?
Inspring,chickensstartlayingagain,bringingawelcomesourceofproteinatwinter’send.Soit’snosurprisethatculturesaroundtheworldcelebratespringbyhonoringtheegg.Sometraditionsaresimple,liketheredeggsthatgetbakedintoGreekEasterbreads.Otherselevatetheeggintoafancyart,liketheheavilyjewel-covered“eggs”thatwerefavoredbytheRussiansstartinginthe19thcentury.OneancientformofeggartcomestousfromUkraine.Forcenturies,Ukrainianshavebeendrawingcomplicatedpatternsoneggs.Contemporaryartistshavefollowedthistraditiontocreateeggsthatspeaktotheanxietiesofourage:Lifeisprecious,anddelicate.Eggsare,too.“There’ssomethingabouttheirdelicatenaturethatappealstome,”saysNewYorkercartoonistRozChast.Severalyearsago,shebecameinterestedineggsandlearnedthetraditionalUkrainiantechniquetodrawherverymodemcharacters.“I’vebrokeneggsateverystageoftheprocess—fromtheverybeginningtothevery,veryend.”Butthere’sanappealinthatvulnerability.“There’spartofthissickeninghorrorofknowingyou’rewalkingontheedgewiththis,thatIkindoflike,knowingthatitcouldallfallapartatanysecond.”Chast’sdesigns,suchasaworriedmanaloneinatinyrowboat,reflectthatdelicateness.TraditionalUkrainiandecoratedeggsalsospoketothosefears.Theelaboratepatternswerebelievedtoofferprotectionagainstevil.“There’sanancientlegendthataslongastheseeggsaremade,evilwillnotprevailintheworld,”saysJoanBrander,aCanadianegg-painterwhohasbeenpaintingeggsforover60years,havinglearnedtheartfromherUkrainianrelatives.Thetradition,datingbackto300B.C.,waslaterincorporatedintotheChristianchurch.Theoldsymbols,however,stillendure.Adecoratedeggwithabirdonit,giventoayoungmarriedcouple,isawishforchildren.Adecoratedeggthrownintothefieldwouldbeawishforagoodharvest.10.Whatdowelearnfromthepassageaboutegg-painting?
ProfessorAshokGoelofGeorgiaTechdevelopedanartificiallyintelligentteachingassistanttohelphandletheenormousnumberofstudentquestionsintheonlineclass,Knowledge-BasedArtificialIntelligence.ThisonlinecourseisacorerequirementofGeorgiaTech’sonlineMasterofScienceinComputerScienceprogram.ProfessorGoelalreadyhadeightteachingassistants,butthatwasn’tenoughtodealwiththeoverwhelmingnumberofdailyquestionsfromstudents.Manystudentsdropoutofonlinecoursesbecauseofthelackofteachingsupport.Whenstudentsfeelisolatedorconfusedandreachoutwithquestionsthatgounanswered,theirmotivationtocontinuebeginstofade.ProfessorGoeldecidedtodosomethingtoremedythissituationandhissolutionwastocreateavirtualassistantnamedJillWatson,whichisbasedontheIBMWatsonplatform.GoelandhisteamdevelopedseveralversionsofJillWatsonbeforereleasinghertotheonlineforums.Atfirst,thevirtualassistantwasn’ttoogreat.ButGoelandhisteamsourcedtheonlinediscussionforumtofindallthe40,000questionsthathadeverbeenaskedsincetheclasswaslaunched.ThentheybegantofeedJillwiththequestionsandanswers.Aftersomeadjustmentsandsufficienttime,Jillwasabletoanswerthestudents’questionscorrectly97%ofthetime.Thevirtualassistantbecamesoadvancedandrealisticthatthestudentsdidn’tknowshewasacomputer.Thestudents,whowerestudyingartificialintelligence,wereinteractingwiththevirtualassistantandcouldn’ttellitapartfromarealhumanbeing.Goeldidn’tinformthemaboutJill’strueidentityuntilApril26.Thestudentswereactuallyverypositiveabouttheexperience.ThegoalofProfessorGoel’svirtualassistantnextyearistotakeoveranswering40%ofallthequestionsposedbystudentsontheonlineforum.ThenameJillWatsonwill,ofcourse,changetosomethingelsenextsemester.ProfessorGoelhasamuchrosieroutlookonthefutureofartificialintelligencethan,say,ElonMusk,StephenHawking,BillGatesorSteveWozniak.20.WhatdoesProfessorGoelplantodonextwithJillWatson?