Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-Are We There Yet? Barry Barlow, SVP & CTO, Vencore, Inc Barry Barlow, SVP & CTO, Vencore, Inc “Let me put it this way, Mr. Amor. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.” HAL, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” 1968. As we approach the 50 year anniversary of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” a movie that arguably foreshadowed concerns that many face today with the increased emphasis on and investment in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, drones and autonomous operations (e.g., driverless cars), one has to wonder if society has made the leap and now agrees with and accepts HAL’s proclamation that computers are “foolproof and incapable of error.” Before you say “of course not,” let me ask if you’ve ever deviated from your typical morning commute based on Waze saying “we found a better route?” And if your answer to the original question is “certainly,” do you recall the stock market flash crashes that were caused by high-frequency trading (HFT)? Were you aware that stock exchanges can now execute trades in less than a half a millionth of a second—more than a million times faster than the human mind can make a decision? Did you know that over 50 percent of all trading, at least in the US, is performing without human intervention by HFT algorithms? Do you realize that in the time it takes to read this sentence, you could be bankrupt? In 2012, Knight Capital lost $10M per minute for 45 minutes while a team of trading experts tried to figure out what the HFT software was doing, and shut it down. If experts in the business who are actively monitoring the results of machine actions can’t figure out what is going on, what does that say for the rest of us mere mortals? And what does it say, writ large, about all the other areas where AI and machine learning are being deployed?