Computers are Dumb, let’s use People!

So maybe your computer can bamboozle you at math, but can it beat you at a game of football? Or for that matter, can it even recognize the people in one of your family photos? No! Despite all the teraflops, computers can’t do things even the dumbest people can, so what does one do to solve a problem like this?

Well, use people! The trick with human computation is to take a problem a computer can’t solve and package it in a way in which people can. Take for example Peekaboom, a game in which people compete against each other in identifying elements in an image, while at the same time helping tag images. Other similar games include Phetch and the ESP Game. Here’s how it works.

Peekaboom pairs you heads-up with a partner with which to alternate turns being both Peeker and Boomer on a greater quest to train computers to see.

As Peeker, your job is to use the clues your partner provides via the hint system to guess the keyword assigned to the image being revealed. As Boomer, your job is to locate and reveal parts of the image, simply by clicking on it, that will allow your partner to guess the keyword. You may also provide valuable hints on whether your partner is hot or cold, and whether the keyword is a noun, text, related noun, etc.

You have just four (4) minutes to identify as many images as both you and your partner can. Since you are both earning points for each correct answer, the best strategy—as well as the greater good of the game—is to hone in on the parts of the image that best convey its meaning, as it relates to the keyword given, to provide the best clues to your partner.

Luis von Ahn is one of the foremost authorities on human computation. The following is a Google TechTalk by him:

For the more academically inclined amongst you, here’s a copy of his PhD thesis. Meanwhile, other projects are underway to use Flickr’s extensive database of photos to help computers judge locations. More on that soon…