AI needs fewer Iron Men and more Smart Hulks

When I got into machine learning it was all about making the world a better place. I worked for Microsoft and had access to projects and the smart people behind them that all were for the benefit of humans. Batch analysis of MRI scan data to allow doctors to detect cancer growths faster. Analysis of satellite imagery to predict storms and floods and limit their impact. Analysis of soil and satellite imagery to predict the outcome of crops. Smart glasses for the visually impaired, that read out menus for them. Bionic legs for a dancer who lost one in an accident and got it trained on hours of her performances. Roger Ebert getting his iPad to talk in his voice. Bracelets to counter-act Parkinson tremors so that people could write again. Contact lenses that detected early stages of diabetes. We used visual analysis, natural language detection and reinforcement learning to build technology that made life better and even saved lives. The Covid Truth Bomb Then COVID hit and with it two…