Google's chief AI researcher, Chi Huai-hsin, shared insights of his team's work at an AI innovation boot camp activity in Taiwan.
The machine learning technology developed by Google was used to find patterns in users' behavior and create personalized recommendations based on the situation they might be in.
While basic recommendations can be straightforward once you know the user's preferences in apps, Chi says there are many nuances to what people are exactly looking for. An example he gave is that tablet users lean towards entertainment video apps, while phone users often seek apps that help with their productivity throughout the day – organizing their schedule, taking notes, etc.
Google Play Store
Another factor that comes into account is not only what device you are using, but when you are using it. News apps are more sought after during the day, while gaming apps see a surge in downloads at night. The technology will probably make it unlikely to get a recommendation for a cooking app while on a work trip, but that's just us speculating.
The goal of Chi's team is make sure that the AI can create adequate recommendations for all types of users, not only those who have common and straightforward habits. One of the challenges they had was making sure the AI accommodates users from different age groups, since their interests can be widely different.
Small adjustments like those can make a big impact once you spread them to the massive Android userbase. Customized recommendations led to a 3.3% increase in app installations over an unspecified period of time. While that number might not look impressive on its own, last year's app downloads were over 82 billion, an increase of 3% would lead to a 2.4 million bump in installs.
Recommended Stories
Since Google is mainly an OS provider on the mobile market, the success of the Play Store is an important part of its business model. This makes the investment in this technology justified, even with such incremental improvements as a result. Plus, once an AI is sufficiently developed, it can be utilized in a variety of ways.
Google's specialist didn't say if they'll be putting limits on the AI to avoid getting to creepy levels of accuracy, so we guess that's not a concern yet.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: