Some Reflections on Michael Jordan’s article “Artificial Intelligence—The Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet”

Abstract

In this article, Michael Jordan makes evident that many have lost sight of the full richness of human intelligence and have neglected to separate foundational understanding from engineering. Most importantly, he points out the need to develop an "engineering discipline . . . for the data-focused and learning-focused fields" and that the systems based on their methods "should be built to work as claimed". A distinguished machine learning (ML) insider, he speaks with authority, bringing insight to current discussions of promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and potential threats it raises for societal wellbeing. The article is, nonetheless, missing two important pieces of the story. One provides an important historical lesson. The other makes manifest a crucial dimension of the engineering challenges. I describe them in turn and then indicate ways, taken together, they should inform the engineering discipline Jordan envisions.