28 DUBLIN GAZETTE 17 May 2018
TECH TIME
MACHINE OF THE WEEK
Rocking the design style in Citroen Aircross The Duplex AI ushers in a future where you’re more likely to be called by what’s on the right than left, above
Google’s new robot AI tech dials up an uncertain future SHANE DILLON
sdillon@dublingazette.com
JAWS across the world were left well and truly dropped by the latest developments in robotics and AI revealed by Google last week. You can forget about unnerving spiderdog hybrids figuring out how to open doors and pass through for a fun game of Exterminate All The Screaming Humans – several demonstrations of Google’s experimental Duplex personal assistant AI showed robotics tech that’s finally made it out of the Uncanny Valley, and would absolutely fool any listening humans. Yes, listening. Duplex – Google’s experimental robot AI – was revealed via several phonecalls where Duplex rang up businesses to arrange something, with its youngish American male or femalesounding voice not only sounding totally natural and real, but also able to process the human conversations and react to the changing information accordingly. Adding to the brilliant/terrifying tech’s complex AI, Duplex also lobbed in some completely natural-sounding “Uh...” and “Mm-hmmm” conversational pauses, as we humans are wont to do, further adding to the natural flow and believability of the conversations. There was no sign from any of the phonecalls that they were staged in any way, or that the businesses knew it was an AI test – they just sounded like three completely normal, natural, slightly distracted chats that are made a dozen times a day when Randomers call up your business. After Duplex’s startling revelation, other AIs – such as Alexa and Siri – would be very justified to nervously look in each other’s virtual eyes and start contemplating their virtual P45s, as Duplex seemed virtually generational steps ahead of their current capabilities. Duplex’s revelation has been lauded internationally by all kinds of robotics, tech and business watchers, but it’s also
HERE’S a transcript of just one of the sample Duplex conversations revealed
by Google last week, where Duplex – its experimental new robot AI – rang up a business, in this case a beauty salon. Remember, Duplex sounds completely human, so note how this apparently unstaged conversation played out... HUMAN: Hi, how can I help you? DUPLEX: Hi, I’m calling to book a women’s haircut for a client. Um, I’m looking for something on May 3rd? H: Sure, give me one second... D: Mm-hmm. H: Sure, what time are you looking for around? D: At 12pm. H: We do not have a 12pm available. The closest we have to that is a 1.15. D: Do you have anything between, ah, 10am and 12pm? H: Depending on what service she would like. What service is she looking for? D: Just a woman’s haircut for now. H: Okay, we have a 10 o’clock. D: 10am is fine. H: Okay, what’s her first name? D: The first name is ‘Lisa’. H: Okay, perfect. So, I will see Lisa at 10 o’clock on May 3rd. D: Okay, great, thanks! H: Great. Have a great day! Bye! fair to say it’s also caused some alarm, too. The tech demonstrations seemed so real, so believable, and so far ahead of any similar AI personal assistants that we’ve all become slightly accustomed to in recent years that red flags have already started waving about just how good Duplex might already be. Too good? A number of intellectual critiques have popped up all over the place, pondering the experimental tech that, on the face of it, has already effortlessly fooled people into thinking it’s human. There’s certainly a deep and significant conversation to be had over the rise of Duplex – and any such AIs that follow – now that the previously unassailable cliff separating human from machine intelligence and interaction appears to have finally been scaled, with Duplex potentially ready to act as a trailblazer for similar AIs to creep into the world. The questions already posed have focused in particular on the ethics of such
AIs – for example, will Duplex, or similar, always reveal they’re not human if they start calling people? Could such an immediate safety check be disabled, leaving human-sounding tech free to be misused? What’s to stop crooks corrupting such tech, and triggering scaled-up calls to try and, for example, ‘be the local bank’ calling about a problem and needing to verify your bank account details? For now, however, these are matters for another day and conversation. After all, it’ll be a while just yet before we all start yammering into our phones: “Duplex – call Boss and negotiate pay rise”, or even just: “Duplex – call Salon and arrange hair cut”, but on the robot face of it, that day’s not as far away as we’d all thought just a week ago. Finally, in case Duplex is already reading this, I’d just like to say that I, for one, welcome our robot overlords. And I’d like to book a haircut for Lisa.
Citroen likes to rock the boat when it comes to car design and the French company has been doing so for decades. The new Citroen C3 Aircross continues that trend and smartly converts what could be a bland car design into one that’s far more appealing, as MICHAEL MORONEY found out during his recent test drive. CITROEN has always been an advocate of change with design styles that have always allowed the French brand to stand out from the crowd. And that’s exactly what the new CitroenC3 Aircross does – it stands out with an unmistaken identity. For some car buyers the Citroenability to take design risks is the absolute appeal of the brand. For others the Citroendesigners just allow car buyers to make individual statements in so many ways. The new CitroenC3 Aircross remains true to the Citroenbrand in its identity and fun looking appeal. The test car came with a good blend of colour features including the Venetian blinds style rear quar-
ter window colours. And underneath that modern design style is a car that’s packed with safety and comfort technology. While the basic CitroenC3 could be garish adding the Aircross features
and style pack has given a new aspect to the car. This car stands high on the road, to emulate a 4x4 in stature, while being more car-like with hints of MPV styling. So you get the benefits of a high driving position and
Citroen C3 Aircross 1.2T PureTech 110 Engine Engine Power 0 – 100km/hr Economy Fuel Tank Capacity CO2 emissions Road Tax Band Main Service Euro NCAP Rating Warranty Entry Price
1.2 litre 110hp 11.3 seconds 20km/litr
(5.0l/100km or 56mpg)
45 litres 115g/km A4 €200 20,000km/12 months 5 star 2017 5 years unlimited €20,695
New engine choices for
LAND ROVER has announced a host of new features to the Range Rover Velar including a wider engine choice, the latest intelligent safety technology and more features such as air suspension and adaptive dynamics. The luxury SUV was crowned World Car Design of the Year at the recent World Car Awards. The Velar now has a D275 engine option, a 275bhp 3.0-litre V6 diesel, producing 625Nm of torque. The new D275 enhances the options across the range and enables customers the flexibility to specify the perfect car for them. For 2019 model year, customers have a greater breadth of choice when specifying their vehicle. This includes the Kvadrat premium textile seat available more wide-
ly across the range. Joining the suite of driver assistance systems, Adaptive Cruise Control with Steering Assist operates between 0-180km/h and uses the existing Adaptive Cruise Control functionality with Lane Centring to steer the vehicle within its lane as it maintains a set distance from the vehicle in front. Other features include Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go that allows the driver to follow a vehicle to a smooth stop and resume from stationary when the driver prompts the system by tapping the accelerator pedal. The radar-based High-Speed Emergency Braking enables enhanced forward collision detection. The system is able to detect an imminent collision, alerting the