We humans use machines as tools — and the advent of AI doesn\u2019 t change this. \u201cMachines aren\u2019 t rational, \u201d argues Hilary Mason, implying that there are..<\/b>
\nThere are few more credible authorities on artificial intelligence (AI) than Hilary Mason the New York-based founder and chief executive of the data science and machine learning consultancy Fast Forward Labs.
So, I asked Mason, who is also the Data Scientist in Residence at Accel Partners and the former Chief Scientist at Bitly, whether today\u2019s AI revolution is for real? Or is it, I wondered, just another catch-all phrase used by entrepreneurs and investors to describe the latest Silicon Valley mania?
Mason \u2013 who sees \u201cAI\u201d as the \u201cumbrella term\u201d to describe \u201cmachine learning\u201d and \u201cbig data\u201d \u2013 acknowledges that it has become a \u201cvery trendy\u201d area of start-up activity. That said, she says, there has been such rapid technological progress in machine learning over the last five years to make the field \u201clegitimately exciting\u201d. This progress has been so profound, Mason insists, that it is making AI \u201cclose\u201d to the heart of our new innovation economy.
But in contrast with the fears of prominent technologists like Elon Musk, Mason doesn\u2019 t worry about the threat to the human species of super intelligent machines. We humans, she says, use machines as tools \u2014 and the advent of AI doesn\u2019 t change this. \u201cMachines aren\u2019 t rational, \u201d she thus argues, implying that there are many more important things for us to worry about than an imminent singularity .
What does concern Mason, however, are questions about the role of women in tech. That\u2019s a question interviewers like myself should be asking men rather than women, she insists. It just creates \u201cextra burden\u201d for female technologists and thus isn\u2019 t something that she wants to publicly discuss.
Many thanks to the folks at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce for their help in producing this interview.<\/p>\n

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Sentiment rank: 1.7<\/div>\n

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