First came Alien, then Predator, followed by Alien versus Predator. The Alien series chronicles the battle between humans and a mysterious lifeform whose lifecycle has just begun. Predator was based on an extraterrestrial hunter stalking commandos in Central America and the citizens of Los Angeles. When the two series merged, it featured an epic battle between the two legends.
Today the battle is Bots versus Humans.
Like the Alien premise – the AI (Artificial Intelligence) lifecycle began many years ago in the 1950s, but until recently has lived amongst us as a relative unknown. That is all about to change.
I’ve written about this topic throughout the year. It is clear Artificial Intelligence has moved into the mainstream. At a court technology conference in September, all anyone wanted to talk about was how we are using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing with our technology today.
One attendee said it is going to transform the courts, and fundamentally change the way they do business moving forward.
The software will dramatically reduce manual processes, and in some instances, eliminate human intervention in the filing process entirely. Finding the right balance between humans and technology is the key to survival.
Last week, Dow Jones published a news story that Google was buying Apple for $9 billion dollars which caused the stock price to jump up $2.00 per share in morning trading. Any human investor would have quickly realized the deal was impossible – Google shareholders would get nine Apple shares for every one Google share they owned. However, the story seemed entirely reasonable to the trader bots that promptly started buying shares of Apple stock causing the momentary price spike.
So how did this story get out? Apparently, Google execs started discussing the acquisition with Steve Jobs back in 2010 which he detailed in his will. That will was read last week in California. The story was published, bots picked it up and ran with it before it could be retracted by humans. Dow Jones CEO William Lewis had this to say, “I take today's inadvertent and erroneous publication of testing materials extremely seriously. While immediate corrective action has been taken, I have also ordered a review of news and technology processes in this area."
One technology writer said, “We can only admire the poorly written rules from a distance. It’s irritating, as it always is, when the curtains get pulled back for a brief moment and we all realize that our financial markets are being run by bots with the intelligence of infant.” Others argue the system worked remarkably well and a 1% increase in price was somewhat insignificant.
As someone who works for a company realizing the immense benefits of AI, failing to embrace machine learning, bots, and NLP will cause us to fall prey to other predators. The benefits of AI far outweigh any potential downside. Humans and Bots need to co-exist.
To see our technology for yourself or talk about a manual process you would like to automate in your court or office, please contact me.
About the Author: Troy Burke
With 30 years of experience providing clients with stellar service and strategic solutions for growth and development, Troy is committed to ensuring his customers receive the highest quality solution, training and support with every implementation. He frequently speaks on the topic of redaction and is actively involved with National Association of Court Management, Property Records Industry Association and several other government organizations.