Will This Crisis Help set Autonomous AI on the Right Course?
The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a wake-up call to all AI, robotics, and driverless car startups: stop building eye-dazzling demos and talking about the future possibility of general-use AI. Instead...
Millions of Americans have started to work from home amidst the current pandemic. Retailers have struggled with supply while nervous consumers are hoarding everything from toilet paper to hand soap.
Across the globe, Chinese e-commerce giant JD began testing a level-4 autonomous delivery robot in Wuhan and running its automated warehouses 24 hours a day to cope with a surge in demand.
Suddenly, autonomous machines need to be better than just proof of concept. They can no longer depend on onsite engineering support for edge cases. They must be robust enough to work independently across various real-life situations.
In some ways, the epidemic accelerates an automated future that’s already on its way. It has exposed problems that have long existed in the AI venture scene: buzzwords and hype cloud people’s judgment, making it difficult to see real progress.
