Hi ,
When visiting a foreign country, where you don't speak the language, many people will learn the basics of the
language prior to going away.
"Hello!" "How much does this cost?" "Where is the train station?"
Besides making your journey safer - and reducing the risk of you being ripped off by an unscrupulous cab driver on the drive back from the airport - it also increases the range of opportunities available to you while on your travels.
By speaking the language, you can
interact with the locals, directly, without the aid of a translator. You can make better decisions. And the more you can say, the more you are likely to learn is even possible in that country.
Here's the thing...
The world of AI is like a foreign land, where the inhabitants are computers and the language spoken is code.
And while it's possible to interact
with computers without being able to speak their language - through the use of front-end systems that take the role of "translators" - the best opportunities are reserved for those who can speak it.
Not everyone needs to know how to program to the level of a software developer - just as it's
unnecessary to speak a language to the level of a native speaker, to fully enjoy a holiday abroad.
Yet, knowing enough of a language to make informed choices and hold others to account - even if those others are computers - is one of the most valuable skills there is.
Languages may be commodity knowledge, but if you don't possess that knowledge and need it, that knowledge is invaluable.
Talk
again soon,
Dr Genevieve Hayes.
p.s. This post is based on a conversation I recently had with Prof
Michael Littman on Value Driven Data Science. You can listen to the entire conversation HERE.
