Computers Are Learning to Read—But They're Still Not So Smart

Computers Are Learning to Read—But They're Still Not So Smart

5 years ago
Anonymous $JavybBYWR5

https://www.wired.com/story/computers-are-learning-to-read-but-theyre-still-not-so-smart/

In the fall of 2017, Sam Bowman, a computational linguist at New York University, figured that computers still weren’t very good at understanding the written word. Sure, they had become decent at simulating that understanding in certain narrow domains, like automatic translation or sentiment analysis (for example, determining if a sentence sounds “mean or nice,” he said). But Bowman wanted measurable evidence of the genuine article: bona fide, human-style reading comprehension in English. So he came up with a test.

Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research develop­ments and trends in mathe­matics and the physical and life sciences.