Who is the Odd One Out? | True Stories of AI #2

―― The Word-Chain Robot's "Mysterious Map"

Learning that AI thinks not in terms of meaning, but in terms of "word proximity."

1. Bear-kun's New "Mystery"

Bear-kun has become a complete "master of magic spells."

However, a big "mystery" left behind by Squirrel-chan is floating in his mind.

"Even though the robot shouldn't know at all what a 'fruit' is, how did it know that 'persimmon' was a fruit and not a 'turtle'?"

As Bear-kun tilted his head, Squirrel-chan smiled and brought out a large piece of paper.

"Bear-kun, to solve that secret, let's take a look at the'Word Map'that the robot has!"

2. Treasure Hunt in the "Land of Words"

The paper Squirrel-chan spread out had a map of a large country drawn on it.

"This is a map of the 'Land of Words.' In this country, many words live as neighbors to one another. Bear-kun, shall we play a word treasure hunt game using this map?"

Squirrel-chan pointed to a castle labeled "King" and said,

"Hidden around this castle are 'companion' words that are always used together in stories. Try to find them!"

Bear-kun looked at the map intently and found companion words like "Queen!" and "Castle!"

Then, Squirrel-chan asked,

"Well then, Bear-kun. Are 'King' and 'Bread' neighbors?"

Bear-kun compared them on the map and answered, "Nope, they're really far apart! They aren't companions!"

3. The Robot's "Little Adventure"

"Exactly! It looks like you already know how to read this map, Bear-kun!"

Squirrel-chan nodded and took out a magnifying glass.

"When you said 'Watermelon!', this is the kind of adventure that started inside the robot's head!"

"First, the robot flies zoom! to the 'Watermelon' house. Then, it looks for the next house that starts with 'ka' (in Japanese)."

"Oh! Over there, far away, is the 'Turtle' house. But, closer by... look, there it is! Right next door is the 'Persimmon' house!"

4. The Reason It Could Find the Odd One Out

Squirrel-chan said excitedly,

"The robot's only rule is 'find the companion that is closest.' That's why it chose the 'Persimmon' that was right nearby instead of the 'Turtle' that was far away! It correctly guessed the odd one out!"

Bear-kun finally realized the important secret, looking happier than ever.

"I get it! The robot doesn't know that fruit is delicious or that it's food. But it does know which words are 'close' to which words on the map!"

5. The True "Special Skill"

Squirrel-chan said with a beaming smile,

"Exactly right! That is the robot's one and only special skill."

"The spell you said, 'You are a fruit expert,' was a very kind hint that meant, 'Find a word from the town where the fruits live!'"

Summary

AI does not understand the meaning of words.
It only knows which words are "neighbors" by looking at a giant "Word Map" in its head.

A good magic spell is a gentle guidepost that tells the AI 'which part of the map to search in'.

[Squirrel's Secret Memo: Reviewing Good Magic Spells]

When you assign a role by saying 'You are a...', it becomes easier for the AI to find words within the 'town where those people live'!

To the next adventure

Bear feels like he has become a total AI expert.

'I know everything about robots now!'

Then, Squirrel said with a slightly worried look.

'But, Bear. Even though they have a map, robots sometimes tell outrageous 'lies'. Even though they should know the real path, why do they end up getting lost?'

Next time, we will talk about the true nature of the 'lies' that AI tells, and the important promises you need to make so you don't get fooled by a lying robot.

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