BORN IN 1956, artificial intelligence is, demographically speaking, a Baby Boomer. And, like many of that generation, it was often inclined to overoptimism, promising more than it could deliver. The original goal of artificial intelligence a machine that could solve any problem by dint of massive, randomized trial-and-error routines was shelved when it became evident that computers of the time were not powerful enough to work that way. In the decades that followed, computers mastered simpler utilitarian tasks: Rule-based systems (also known as expert systems or knowledge-based systems) to this
JTA illustration by Mollie Suss. Last month, the New York Times convened what it called a “focus group of Jewish Americans.” I was struck briefly by that phrase Jewish Americans in part because the Times, like the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, tends to prefer “American Jews.” It’s seemingly a distinction without a difference, although I know others might
Opinion: Since Jews first began settling in New York almost a century ago, they have been confronted with a choice between total assimilation and maintaining their religious and ethnic uniqueness