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Telefonica
The Myth of Cognitive
To start off, what do Intelligence and Cognition mean if we search for a definition online?
• Intelligence: “(1) the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations: reason; also: the skilled use of reason, (2) the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one’s environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests).”
• Cognition: “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.”
The term Cognitive Computing has been popularized by IBM, through its Watson program that was able to win the Jeopardy game winning from the two best human players. Cognition is usually associated to language understanding and Jeopardy was all about that. But what are exactly the differences between Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing? And how are they related? Or are they synonyms? The best way we have seen this explained is by the late Herb Simon, one of the gurus of cognitive science:
Stated in other words: AI is about making computers solve complex problems, that if people solved them would require intelligence – it is the result that counts. Cognitive Science is about making computers solve complex problems similar to how humans solve problems – it is the process that counts. So Cognitive Computing aims to mimic human reasoning behavior.
Deep Blue is a great example to look at. In 1997, for the first time in history this IBM computer program beat the world chess champion, Gary Kasparov. The main reason why Deep Blue was able to win was pure brute force. It was capable of evaluating 200 million chess positions per second, and to look up to 20 moves ahead, something no human is able to do.
So, is Deep Blue AI? Yes, because it solves a complex task, even better than the best human. Is Deep Blue Cognitive Computing? No, because the reasoning process has little to do with how humans play chess.
Today the terms AI and Cognitive Computing are largely used as synonyms. Even IBM states that explicitly in one of their reports: “Cognitive computing is quickly emerging as a transformative technology that enables organizations to gain business advantage. Also referred to as artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive technology augments human expertise to unlock new intelligence from vast quantities of data and to develop deep, predictive insights at scale.”
But while many may use the terms as synonyms, in a business context, Cognitive is mostly associated with natural language understanding, and this with automating call centers, digital assistants and chatbots.
Whether a company calls its digital assistant AI or Cognitive Computing is therefore a marketing decision. Everybody is offering AI solutions right now, and it becomes increasingly difficult to be perceived as differential. Cognitive Computing is an attractive alternative, as it alludes to the same underlying mystery (human intelligence), but the space is much less crowded.
