Internet and Technology (5)

famously beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov using algorithms in 1997? Was it…

a) Hal,

b) Alpha 60 or c) Deep Blue?

I'll say Deep Blue. Although I'm just guessing.

Was it an educated guess, Tim?

I know a bit about chess…

An educated guess is based on knowledge and experience and is therefore likely to be correct.

Well, we'll find out later on how educated your guess was in this case, Tim!

Indeed. But getting back to AI and what machines can do – are they

any good at solving real-life problems? Computers think in zeros and ones don't

they? That sounds like a pretty limited language when it comes to life experience!

You would be surprised to what those zeroes and ones can do, Tim.

Although you're right that AI does have its limitations at the moment.

And if something has limitations there's a limit on what it can do or how good it can be.

OK – well now might be a good time to listen to Zoubin Bharhramani, Professor of Information

Engineering at the University of Cambridge and deputy director of the Leverhulme Centre

for the Future of Intelligence. He's talking about what limitations AI has at the moment.

I think it's very interesting how many of the things that we take for granted – we humans take

for granted – as being sort of things we don't even think about like how do we walk, how do we

reach, how do we recognize our mother. You know, all these things. When you start to think how

to implement them on a computer, you realize that it's those things that are incredibly difficult to

get computers to do, and that's where the current cutting edge of research is.

If we take something for granted we don't realise how important something is.

You sometimes take me for granted, I think, Neil.

No – I never take you for granted, Tim! You're far too important for that!

Good to hear! So things we take for granted are doing every day tasks like walking,

picking something up, or recognizing somebody. We implement – or perform – these things without

thinking – Whereas it's cutting edge research to try and program a machine to do them.

Cutting edge means very new and advanced. It's interesting isn't it,

that over ten years ago a computer beat a chess grand master – but the

same computer would find it incredibly difficult to pick up a chess piece.

I know. It's very strange. But now you've reminded me that we need the answer to today's question.

Which was: What was the name of the computer which famously beat world chess

champion Garry Kasparov in 1997? Now, you said Deep Blue, Tim, and … that was the right answer!

You see, my educated guess was based on knowledge and experience!

Or maybe you were just lucky. So, the IBM

supercomputer Deep Blue played against US world chess champion Garry Kasparov in two

chess matches. The first match was played in Philadelphia in 1996 and was won by Kasparov.

The second was played in New York City in 1997 and won by Deep Blue. The 1997 match was the

first defeat of a reigning world chess champion by a computer under tournament conditions.

Let's go through the words we learned today. First up was

‘artificial intelligence' or AI – the ability of machines to copy human intelligent behaviour.

“There are AI programs that can write poetry.”

Do you have any examples you can recite?

Afraid I don't! Number two – an algorithm is a set of steps a computer follows in order to

solve a problem. For example, “Google changes its search algorithm hundreds of times every year.”

The adjective is algorithmic – for example, “Google has made many algorithmic changes.”

Number three – if something has ‘limitations' – there's a limit on what it can do or how good

it can be. “Our show has certain limitations – for example, it's only six minutes long!”

That's right – there's only time to present six vocabulary items. Short but sweet!

And very intelligent, too. OK, the next item is ‘take

something for granted' – which is when we don't realise how important something is.

“We take our smart phones for granted these days – but before 1995 hardly anyone owned one.”

Number five – ‘to implement' – means to perform a task, or take action.

“Neil implemented some changes to the show.”

The final item is ‘cutting edge' – new and advanced – “This software is cutting edge.”

“The software uses cutting edge technology.”

OK – that's all we have time for on today's cutting edge

show. But please check out our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages.

Bye-bye!

Goodbye!

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Catherine. Hello!

Now, Catherine, say cheese.

Cheeeese. Thank you, a little souvenir of our time together.

Let's have a look… Hang on a minute. You just took a selfie, I wasn't even in the picture.

Ah, well, that's the magic of the smartphone, two cameras! You know, that's not something

you can do with a traditional camera. I mean, do you even have a separate camera these days?

I do actually. It's in a cupboard somewhere at home.

Well, that is the topic of this programme. Have traditional cameras been completely replaced by

smartphones, or to put it another way, have cameras been made obsolete by the smartphone?

Interesting question. But before we get into this topic, how about a question for our listeners?

Of course. We are certainly in the digital age of photography but when

was the first digital camera phone released? Was it:

a) 2000 b) 2004 or

c) 2007? What do you think?

Well, I actually know this one, so I'm going to be fair and keep it to myself.

OK, well, listen out for the answer at the end of the programme.

There are different kinds of cameras available today. There are compact cameras,

which are small and mostly automatic and usually come with a fixed lens.

That's right. And then there are SLRs and DSLRs which are bigger,

and you can change the lenses on these cameras and they allow for a lot of manual control.

And there are also mirrorless cameras, which are a cross between compact cameras and DSLRs. They are

small like a compact camera but you can also use the same lenses on them that you can use on DSLRs.

And of course, there are the cameras on smartphones,

and these are convenient and they're becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Phil Hall is the editor of Tech Radar magazine. He was asked on the BBC programme

You and Yours if he thought smartphones would make other cameras obsolete. What is his opinion?

I don't think so. I think while compact camera sales have really sort of dropped off a cliff,

it's the lower end, cheap compacts where people have opted for a smartphone and I think

manufacturers are looking at the more higher end premium cameras, high-end compacts, DSLRs, which

are the ones you can attach lenses to, mirrorless cameras. So, the market's changing. And I don't

think there'll be a time soon, yet, that… the smartphone will take over the camera completely.

So does Phil think smartphones will kill the camera?

In a word, no. He does say that sales of cheap compact cameras have dropped off a cliff.

This rather dramatic expression describes a very big fall in sales.

This is because the kind of consumers

who would choose a compact camera are now opting for the camera on their smartphone.

When you opt for something you choose it rather than something else.

For people who want a quick, easy to use and convenient way to take

reasonable quality photos, compact cameras used to be the best choice – but now it's a smartphone.

So camera makers are now moving to the more high-end market, the DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

So who is still buying these more expensive cameras? Here's Phil Hall again.

I think it's... some of it is people who are picking up a smartphone and sort of

getting into photography that way and that's a really great first step into photography

and I think people are probably, sometimes, getting a bit frustrated with the quality

once they sort of start pushing their creative skills and then looking to see what's the next

rung up so it's people wanting to broaden their creative skills a bit.

Who does he say might be buying cameras?

He says that people who are getting into

photography might get frustrated with the quality of smartphones.

Getting into something means becoming very interested in it.

And if you are frustrated with something it

means you are disappointed with it. You are not happy with it.

So people who have got into photography with a smartphone

but are frustrated with its limitations and want to be more creative are going

to the next level. They are moving up, they are, as Phil said 'taking the next rung up'.

Now, a rung is the horizontal step of a ladder,

so the expression taking the next rung up is a way to describe doing something at a higher level.

Now, talking of higher levels, did you get this week's quiz question right? The question was:

When was the first phone with a digital camera released? Was it 2000, 2004 or 2007?

The first phone with a digital camera was released in 2000.

Now, to take us up to the end of the programme, let's look at the vocabulary again.

First, we had the adjective obsolete which describes something that has

been replaced and is no longer the first choice.

When the expression to drop off a cliff is used about, for example,

sales numbers, it means sales have fallen significantly over a short period of time.

To opt for something means to choose something

and when you become very interested in an activity you can say that you get into it.

If you are trying to do something and you can't do it because you don't have the skill

or the equipment you are using is not right or not good enough, you can become frustrated.

And developing your skills to a higher level can be described as taking the next rung up.

Right, that's all from us from us in this programme. Do join us again next time and

don't forget that in the meantime you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube and of course our website bbclearningenglish.com. See you soon. Goodbye.

Bye!