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November 4, 2005

Amazon finally reveals itself as the Matrix

Michael Arrington

64 comments »

Amazon’s new Mechanical Turk product is brilliant because it will help application developers overcome certain types of problems (resulting in the possibility for new kinds of applications) and somewhat scary because I can’t get the Matrix-we-are-all-plugged-into-a-machine vision out of my head.

The “machine” is a web service that Amazon is calling “artificial artificial intelligence.” If you need a process completed that only humans can do given current technology (judgment calls, text drafting or editing, etc.), you can simply make a request to the service to complete the process. The machine will then complete the task with volunteers, and return the results to your software.

Volunteers are paid different amounts for each task, and money earned is deposited into their Amazon accounts. Amazon keeps a 10% margin on what the requester pays.

Today, we build complex software applications based on the things computers do well, such as storing and retrieving large amounts of information or rapidly performing calculations. However, humans still significantly outperform the most powerful computers at completing such simple tasks as identifying objects in photographs – something children can do even before they learn to speak.

When we think of interfaces between human beings and computers, we usually assume that the human being is the one requesting that a task be completed, and the computer is completing the task and providing the results. What if this process were reversed and a computer program could ask a human being to perform a task and return the results? What if it could coordinate many human beings to perform a task?

Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web services API to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call - the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. In reality, a network of humans fuels this Artificial Artificial Intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work.

All software developers need to do is write normal code. The pseudo code below illustrates how simple this can be.

read (photo);
photoContainsHuman = callMechanicalTurk(photo);
if (photoContainsHuman == TRUE){
acceptPhoto;
}
else {
rejectPhoto;
}

The name “Mechanical Turk” is a great one because it refers to a machine built in the 18th century that played chess against real people and beat them regularly. However, nearly a hundred years later it was finally revealed that the machine was in fact powered by a human being hidden inside of it. I actually read a book about the machine earlier this year - I was on a business trip and it was all I could find.

There are an enormous number of tasks that this can be used for. So plug in to the Matrix Machine and give it a try.

More on this from Rob Hof, Greg Yardley and others.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Pete Cashmore

    November 4th, 2005 at 6:48 pm

    I posted some thoughts earlier:

    http://mashable.com/2005/11/04.....or-web-20/

    Now it’s been around the blogosphere, I’ve got a few concerns about the idea. For instance: could this be used to beat captchas? We’ve been told about people farming out the work of beating captchas, but now it’s really easy to find an underpaid workforce for all your evil deeds. And some of these tasks could actually be done with an automated script - I reckon we’ll see bots springing up which can automatically complete tasks on Mechanical Turk.

    In fact, gaming of all types will appear. It’s a great idea, but it’ll be difficult to keep out the cheats, and it may well lead to an increase in spam, splogs and scams all around the internet.

  2. Mike

    November 4th, 2005 at 10:59 pm

    So much for CAPTCHAs.

  3. Ed Dunn

    November 5th, 2005 at 6:02 am

    I already looked at this service and while ago. I think the name AAI is very misleading as the service is revolutionary and innovationative in a way that has nothing to so with Artificial Intelligence.

    This is collaborative workflow management with real people, not AI (which is another story). The beauty of this service is that I can now work like this:

    pluglist = getJournalistsToPlugStartUp;
    if(getJournalistsToPlugStartUp == null)
    pluglist = getBloggersToPlugStartUp;
    if(getBloggersToPlugStartUp == null)
    pluglist = getCollegeKidsToPlugStartUp;

    And each of of the ‘get__ToPlugStartUp’ can be a real entrenpenueral effort making that happen. This is revolutionary and disruptive to the status quo and the world economy. Nobel Prize anyone?

  4. Michael Buckbee

    November 5th, 2005 at 9:57 am

    I think that the Turk might be a good way to hire out iterative “real world” testing of web apps.

    It would be an order of magnitude cheaper to post to Turk the need for: “Mac OS 9 OmniWeb Testing of XYZ.com” than to try and maintain the systems and run the tests yourself.

    Obviously, this doesn’t negate the need for having real test, beta users, etc. But it might be a good way to get new eyeballs on your apps before a general release.

  5. Sidney

    November 5th, 2005 at 4:03 pm

    “I reckon we’ll see bots springing up which can automatically complete tasks on Mechanical Turk.”

    But that’s the point! These are all tasks that can NOT be done by bots. If a program could be used on any of them, the tasks would not be using the Turk system.

  6. Matt Baldwin

    November 6th, 2005 at 9:56 am

    If we’re talking money deposited into my PayPal account or directly to my bank account, then we’ve got something, but if all of my earnings get dropped into the company store and a trickle at that, then what’s the point wasting time on participating in this? I just feel like a low-paid monkey earning Amazon dollars to be spent at the Amazon store. The amount being offered is only worth minimal effort. Maybe others will participate and offer more $$, but still if it drops into my Amazon account, who cares. I guess this is a good way to get a feel for how much money people earn producing a lot of the goods sold on Amazon.

    -matt

  7. Matt Baldwin

    November 6th, 2005 at 9:59 am

    I take some of that comment back, looks like you can transfer to your bank account:

    How do I transfer my earnings to my bank account?

    To transfer the money you have earned through Mechanical Turk from your Amazon.com account to your bank account or to your Amazon.com gift certificate balance, select the “Your Account” link from the top-right corner of the screen. Under “Your Earnings,” select “Transfer your earnings to your bank account or to your Amazon.com gift certificate balance.” Enter your password when prompted.

    If this is the first time you have transferred money to a bank account, you will need to enter your bank account information. Follow the instructions to enter your bank routing and account numbers in the form provided.

    You may request a transfer of your earnings to your bank account or to your Amazon.com gift certificate balance at any time.

    I wonder if they’ll put a minimum required before they transfer.

    -matt

  8. Ed Dunn

    November 6th, 2005 at 12:39 pm

    I do have one concern…some opportunist can patent an Artifical Artifical Intelligence process and license/charge others involved in that process creating an Artificial Artifical Tax on participants.

  9. Honor Gunday

    November 6th, 2005 at 4:28 pm

    The choice if the name is culturally incentive, and the product is not so human. Please see: http://honorico.com/?p=20

  10. Justin Dugger

    November 6th, 2005 at 10:01 pm

    Actually, this is a great idea in a way, even when applied to breaking CAPTCHAs. For starters, it encourages people to develop solutions to problems previously thought to be outside the domain of computing, which is usually nice. But it also creates a market, which are subject to market forces. Maybe you think spam is mean (sure) or maybe you think markets and libertarians have bad values (maybe) but at least hear me out on this.

    Imagine that Amazon becomes a popular place for HITs. We all know there’s tons of spammers out there, and we’ve heard of people breaking CAPCHAs with capcha for porn trades. The thing is, CAPCHA challenges are time critical: you need to finish one before the HTTP session times out and starts over with a new challenge. Even if the only people who use the system is Amazon and would-be spammers, the time critical nature drives them to compete the only way they can: price. The big problem with email is that it’s practically the same cost to send a million as it is ten (especially when you’re using a rootkit’d site).

    Realistically, nobody’s going to use Amazon to break capchas for unsavory gain simply because spammers aren’t going to play to the rules of the game: amazon merchant accounts are required to participate. Grad students might use the system as a cheap way to test their CAPCHA thesis for viability or something, but I just don’t see spammers and Amazon getting along. Furthermore, breaking CAPCHAs is one of the easier tasks for english speaking / reading people, so the pay is going to be the smallest anyways.

  11. Mechanical Bob

    November 7th, 2005 at 12:07 am

    Rather than being a way to defeat CAPTCHAs the Mechanical Turk would MAKE a great CAPTCHA! Just imagine some Web site providing as its Turing Test one of the questions posed by the Mechanical Turk API — since the questions are of a nature that can only be answered by humans those questions themselves make great CAPTCHAs. There’s the added benefit that many of them will not require visual output, so CAPTCHAs become accessible to those who don’t use monitors, or as a blind friend put it, “assistive devices for the visually dependent”.

    –Mechanical Bob.

  12. Russ

    November 12th, 2005 at 2:59 am

    Revolutionary? Innovative? I don’t see what’s so good about a list of ads for work. Rather than go to a recruitement agency or advertise in the employment section of the local paper, I put my task on Amazon’s new site. Woo hoo?

    Having a central list of tasks that need doing, and providing an easy way for the workers to get paid is very nice. But it isn’t revolutionary. Ebay didn’t invent the auction. They just provided an easy way for auctions to take place using new communications technologies. Amazon is to working as Ebay is to auctions.

  13. Brauer

    November 30th, 2005 at 12:02 pm

    I signed up for it and you would sure have to be desperate for cash to participate. The HITS so far are so mundane and repetitively boring as to make you really wonder how we could have a society where this is a productive way for people to spend their time. Economics gone barmy!

  14. Media Project

    January 7th, 2006 at 12:09 pm

    Anyone know how this is progressing?

  15. splat

    May 23rd, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    This is a good use for it:

    http://www.thesheepmarket.com/

  16. buzzy

    July 27th, 2006 at 6:09 am

    Salon weighs in: “I make $1.45 a week and I love it”

    On Amazon Mechanical Turk, thousands of people are happily being paid pennies to do mind-numbing work. Is it a boon for the bored or a virtual sweatshop?

    http://www.salon.com/tech/feat.....ex_np.html

  17. manarde

    November 16th, 2006 at 7:54 pm

    Brilliant.

  18. Angeline JoVan

    February 5th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

    Please help search for Jim Gray, Microsoft scientist and my dear friend. You won’t get paid, but you might save a life. thanks - angeline

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