When we still hang on to yesterday in our work today, we can forget about tomorrow

I had the privilege to attend a learning session with ADAX on Data Science for Executives, Towards a Data-Driven Organisation. It boils down to an introduction of analytics for the non-analysts. 

We were first asked to rate our knowledge and exposure to this subject from a 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest and I rated myself a low 1. 

But as the class went on, I don’t think I’d be more than a 1.5 at the end of it. There is just too much. 

And at the end of the day, I have a brain overload but amongst the takeaways for the day are these two important things:

Always begin with the right questions: something I always tell my classes when I am training myself and it is a good reminder to take with me all the time. 

And in relation to asking the right questions, always begin with what’s the problem statement: it’s funny we are told not to use the word “problem” anymore, but to substitute it with “challenge” and “objective”, but with the two latter words being too overused, it’s high time we call it what it is, a problem. 

And what I like and found so true is this comparison of our changing world between yesterday and today. 

Except that most of us are still using a yesterday mindset at work. 

And isn’t it sad that when we hang on to our yesterday at work today, we can forget about progressing to tomorrow. 

pearlie

Microsoft’s AI app to learn Chinese

Today my hubby sent me a very interesting article and link: Microsoft’s AI language app will give you a friend to practice Chinese with.

I downloaded the app and it is very promising. It isn’t much at the moment with very limited lessons but if Microsoft continues to build on it, it will be a very useful tool. 

The AI allows you to be flexible with the responses required from you and thus giving you more freedom in answering the questions in ways that are more relevant to your context. 

The beginner level only has four short sections which I completed in less than 20 minutes, and I have just started on the intermediate level where keywords are given for you to use in the reply required. 

It’s worth a try and it’s free anyway!

pearlie

What would you name your guinea pig?

My hubby sent me an article from Gizmodo about this organization called Portland Guinea Pig Rescue that requested for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to come up with names for their guinea pigs that are put up for adoption. 

The names that the AI came up with were brilliant and as what the writer termed them as so quintessentially guinea pig. 

This is my favourite: Popchop

Do click on the link above to check it out. 

pearlie

Photo: Portland Guinea Pig Rescue

I scored 8/10! I can tell the difference between Bach and music written by artificial intelligence. Can you?

My hubby played a tune this morning and asked me if Bach wrote it. I listened a little more intently and said no, Bach would have written a more complicated piece than that, and asked him who composed it instead. 

An artificial intelligence, he said, which I am not at all surprised because my husband is really into that topic these days. He is a quiet man but if you get him to talk to you about this topic, you will never hear the end of it.

He then played me a series of 10 tunes, all with the same sound and almost the same tune, but with slight differences. He asked me one by one if the pieces were composed by Bach or the AI. I played along, I listened and gave my answers. In the end, I actually scored 8 out of 10 and my hubby was so impressed with me, which I must say is a rare thing. I am not sure how I did it. I just listened and somehow could tell which is Bach and which is the AI, except for two.

According to the article, "to test if their AI composer could pass for Bach, researchers tested 1,272 people with varying expertise in classical music, giving them examples of Bach’s arrangements and the AI’s. More than 75% of the listeners taking the test were classical music enthusiasts or studied the type of music. The Sony team found that 50% of listeners couldn’t tell the two apart, and the more complex the music sounded, the more often people thought it was composed by Bach."

To test yourself, check out the article here: You probably can’t tell the difference between Bach and music written by AI in his style.

But now that listened to the piece again, as per the video above, it does indeed sound like Bach. 

pearlie