AI cooking?

“No don’t get the fried stuff” “why?” “because we don’t want it” “but last time you saw the chips packet you guys hammered it down and finished it. You guys eat it.” “ya, exactly. We eat it. Doesn’t mean we want it. We don’t want it. We don’t want to eat it and so please don’t get it home. Right now we are enjoying eating home cooked food and good food through the day. We will eat fruits. Whatever. But please don’t get the fried stuff.”

Jasmine is the ever care giver. She sees what her babies eat and takes that as the cue to what they really want to eat. For years her strategy isnot to really ask us. We always give the wrong answers, she contends. She sees how we react and then she figures. By now she knows under which circumstances Jispa will eat more food. She knows that when she serves hot rotis I eat a few more. Which is a problem. I don’t want to eat more. I eat more because she is making them. It’s a circular thing.

Nothing worries Jasmine more than seeing an empty bowl of food after dinner. “Oh. You want more, should I make something.” “NO.. I don’t want more. I was just trying to finish the food you made. I thought instead of throwing it, since its less, I thought I will eat it and finish it.” So now when I finish the bowl I make it a point to first ask everyone if someone wants and state that I don’t want and then with the mandatory disclaimers, I finish the bowl. I don’t want it, its extra but still I am having it. Then it works.

While writing this, I realised an interesting problem of artificial intelligence. Hmmm. This is the same problem that Ai would face while decoding human behaviour. AI is very similar to Jasmine. It seeks to capture exhibited behaviour and response to stimuli. It doesn’t ask the consumer what he/she wants. Its simply sees behaviour / stimuli and adjusts accordingly.  This way it understands you better than what you do of yourself.

This is the hallowed promise of AI. But in this is also the curse of AI. It will seek only exhibited behaviour and not consider motivation behind the behaviour. This could be the achilles heel of the Ai as we implement it. While doing one AI project, I realised that one of the problems that AI had was that basis behaviour we would give out stimuli and basis the stimuli we would see further behaviour. This seemed to me a self-fulfilling prophesy. The whole problem would be that if we are stuck in a behaviour and stimuli that is of our doing – we will miss if there is a behaviour outside of the proverbial well. That’s why I insisted on inserting trojans - Randomly generated stimuli even if it against the data of the behaviour. This way we would also be able to catch a random trend starting. So just because a type of behaviour was not seen so far doesn’t mean it doesn’t get captured.

It’s a bit tricky to understand. To simplify – the AI may start seeing that every time Jasmine makes hot roti, they eat more. So, it churns out more and more hot rotis not knowing that possibly sometimes or every once in a while, Jasmine should churn out Hot Rice to see what happens. Are bored of hot rotis or a new trend towards brown rice is coming in that the AI doesn’t catch as the current data continues to show upticks. It’s what I would call a ‘staying in the well’ syndrome.

The other thing I realise while writing this blog is that the AI must consider human motivation for behaviour. So, while I am eating more rotis, is it that I really want to eat more just because they are hot. May be a deeper insight into the behaviour of me eating more can be taken in. Possibly I love eating rotis but more importantly I want Jasmine to eat along with me. I don’t mind eating a roti less. Understanding this is a crucial dimension for AI going forward.

Simply blindly following correlation over causation will only take you this far. You easily find yourself on top of the curve that has flattened and leave you with no growth opportunity. Combination of trojans and insights and research can add into the mix so as to code for growth that is break through instead of just paying lip service to ‘I have implemented AI’.

Most CEO’s do not understand this and simply expect an AI engine to ingest more variables. They like saying we have AI and that we have ingested 5000 points of data. It sounds very good and it a good lie to perpetrate but it’s just that – a lie. AI would need some serious soul searching on behalf of the coders and marketing nut cases to make it work. I shudder to think of what would happen over a period as I exited my previous company where I created this juggernaut.

Sometimes I feel like a physicist who cracks the code for energy is dismayed to see it being used for weapons of mass destruction. I create an AI engine to see the top use it for random things. They just don’t understand it. Then I connect it to a mass communication system only to see that they will use it to think through wrong conclusions and send wrong communication to a wrong audience and overdo to kill it. Entropy is real.

So coming back – Jasmine is enjoying the fact that during this lock down she is able to feed us hot rotis and we are fighting back by stating upfront exactly how many we will eat. This way its in control. And both win. Plus I sit to eat a little late – I keep telling her that I will sit only delaying it enough so that when she done making my hot rotis I will have at the table eating her dinner with me.

I really care about talking to her more than I care about getting fatter. Wouldn’t you agree?

A long story of a short weekend.

A brief history of Mughal history was preceded a few days back by Charles Darwin theory of natural selection. All these are explained in the car to Jispa while we are driving from one place to another. A car provides the perfect set up for these talks. There is nothing much to distract and nothing much to do but talk. Jispa provides all the fodder by asking all the really wild questions which typically leads one to another and on and on till I can keep explaining. Typically I think the destination comes before we can exhaust ourselves of explanations and questions. The love flows both ways, her love of asking is matched by my love of explaining. I think of it as a challenge and want o explain all that I know in a manner that she understands. But this doesn’t work with all kids as I found to my chagrin yesterday.
Yesterday was Jispa’s swim meet. Jispa swims well and takes part in the inter club competitions. While within the club and school she competes well, the inter club competition is fierce and she stands no chance. But Jasmine is firm that we must give our best and I get dragged into this, mumbling and grumbling about wasting a Saturday or Sunday. I almost relieved when she gets selected to compete only in a few categories and misses a berth in the relay. The relay is at the end and it means that we wait till the very end. Yes the relays are interesting but in Jispa’s category the relays have been largely one sided with a few clubs dominating. Whatever. So I got along enough material to read while waiting for her contests. One of them this time around was the GEO. In it was a lovely picture of a manatee who was surrounded by a school of fish eating the algae and the parasites off its back. I caught the first friend of Jispa I saw and I explained this amazing symbiosis to her. She seemed interested for a fleeting moment, asked a question, said huhhuh… and vanished. Poof. There goes my ‘I am a good teacher’ theory. So it takes two to tango. The receptor in this case is possibly more important than the transmitter. Ya. It takes time to get the attention and interest. It’s easy with Jispa, she is probably tuned into learning more and more at all times.
So yesterday we attempted to understand Mughal history with a bit of perspective. A perspective that wasn’t so one sided as the Mughals came in with their dogmas and converted the masses to one religion. It couldn’t have been so one sided as I thought history taught me. I wonder how we managed to get the history so biased that young kids grow up thinking of this big bad Muslim rulers coming and conquering and persecuting the poor Hindus. They don’t get the whole picture. My whole picture is also of the Hindu fold jamming their own believers through the highly segregated caste system. My sense, my guess is that that had equal to do with conversion as did the incentives (the jazia tax.) Did I get that tax name write? That tax shit was always taught very well to us in the history books. Also I tried to explain to her my concept that we weren’t really one India as the text books make us all to be. We were a bunch of a gazillion small states at war with each other, as different from each other. Probably I got it wrong but as I grew up I thought that the concept of India as one total entity was as old as time it self. There was always one great nation. Whenever any outsider fought us, he fought us one big India, Prthviraj or Puru were Great “india” kings who valiantly fought for independence from ‘foreign powers’. Hell even Tipu Sultan was a ‘freedom fighter’. Basically the theory is – if there is a Hindu Muslim war then the evil guy is normally a Muslim and if there is a British involved, then villain is the British. On another note I sometimes wonder if the Japanese had smashed through the British forces in the east, through Subhash Chandra Bose’s help, I doubt if they would have been benevolent rulers or even for that matter spoken about our freedom. But then that is one history that I want to read someday.
But we leave that argument till the day I get to read a little more of that chapter of history. The both sides of that chapter. Till then let’s talk a bit about the ridiculously bad movies we saw – teen they bhai. Really really bad one. Amongst the worst I have seen. With just about a couple of guffaws. Sad shit. Especially when they take some real fine talent and go about and waste it. The times of India gives it 2 and half stars. I wonder where the two came from. The only thing good about the movie was that we saw it at Regal theatre which meant that all three of us saw that movie at the price of a one multiplex ticket. Then it hurts far less. Also before the movie we ate some pav bhaji at the Shakari Bhandar restaurant before we saw the movie. And yes, it was the first time I ate – idli chilly fry. Wow. That is taking a south indian dish and dousing it with chinese sauces. It’s a wild dish and definitely worth trying. It messes with your mind with its blast of tastes in one spoonful. Mumbai street innovation at its shinning example.
To counter that post the really sad movie we sent to the ultimate opposite. The Souk restaurant at the Taj. Whoah! Before you think I hit the lottery… before the recession I worked ina wealth management outfit. Part of the job was travelling and when wealth managers aka private bankers travel they stay only at the Taj. So I managed to stay enough to get myself some Taj points. A grand total of four thousand five hundred points which I redeemed against vouchers which were expiring this month. So Jasmine and I decided to treat ourselves as a celebration of her birthday this Saturday. My belief is that when its free try out the wildest tuff you have ever eaten. We don’t particularly like Chinese food (except now the idli chilly dry), Punjabi and continental cease to excite and so we have the Mediterranean food. Turkish, Egpytain, Lebanese,you name it. We never did really experiment with it much except the falafel and hummus and pita bread. So we book ourselves a table and reach there. The location, at the top of the new Taj wing offers a lovely view of the gateway and was as exotic as it have got. So get there and look at all the Greek (greek=methaphor) on the menu and in full ishtyle, I simple hand it over to the attendant to order for us. A ha. Some lovely salad, falafels and something else. The we had some soup and then we had no space left for the main course. In the middle they gave us some free absolutely amazing mocktail of khus (poppy seeds). The one thing I figure with the Taj is the amazing ability to simply put just a little flavor in their food. It must linger not over power. We gujjus with take any flavor, mix it with any flavor and take the strongest flavor and make it even stronger. So our khus will taste strongly of khus, our food falafels will have strong Garlic and so on. No I realize how we butcher our food and how when I hit the kitchen I murder my own preparations. I always believed that it must be strong but I think now I realize how wrong I was. The desert we ordered was some divine chocolate bistilla. Ooohhh…. After our fill the Taj being Taj… suddenly sprang upon us a cake. Happy birthday to you…lallalalal…. I had mentioned at the time of booking that it’s my wife’s birthday and to hence please give us nice window facing seats. Ahhh… I could get used to the Taj. Till of course I see the bill. Four grand. Four thousand rupees for three starters, two soups and one desert. Whoops. Earth calling Mars, earth calling mars. The stuff is always tasty when you pay through free vouchers! No mistaking the fact that they are hard earned vouchers. Free but hard earned. I travelled a lot, missed my family, worked my butt, suffered lonely nights in the hotel room, fell sick all alone, watched boring TV, everything… and the consolation was this lovely night with my family. Well I still got five hundred bucks left to spend. Possibly take my family to the coffee shop and blow it then on coffee and biscotti. Nice evening. The consolation prize was pretty cool. What say jasmine? We were so enamored by it that we even thought, ‘THOUGHT’… only thought of doing it again at full price. I can only think of the various stuff I can buy for 4 grand. Two denims, or a pair of sunglasses, or two or four pairs of footwear, a bit of my EMI perhaps. Anything, but eat it! Aaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhh. Middle class will always remain middle class. Once you get the joy of ‘cheap’ the luxury of ‘price’ ceases to excite you and I hope it remains like that for long. There you are – the long story of my short week end.
Hey one more thing – we saw the movie Rango today. Anything with Johnny Depp has to be weird. Well it started out slow but ended pretty fast and exciting. I liked the movie. An animation movie with Client Eastwood in a special appearance. It was cool. And yes I almost forgot; I got into my favorite fight with the security at the theatre. Jispa was having an apple. They wanted her to eat it before they let her in. SCREW YOU. I just told them, we are going in and we barged in, ‘stop me if you can’. Tum jo karna hai kar lo. You can’t stop my daughter from eating an apple. You have no power to stop me, touch me or do anything. So Jispa had her apple and ate it too. Well… to bend to wrong rules is a crime in itself. Jai ho Gandhi. The security is a bluff, they have no powers to arrest you or confiscate anything as innocent as an apple. I hate them and it’s high time we show them for what they are.. a bunch of bullies who have been given instructions by some corporate. Why can’t they allow a kid, eating an apple to walk in. they rather the kid have a cola inside, instead. Sure. Take that! You powerless bully… I refuse. I call your bluff.

BTW - the real picture of the lovely desert at the SOUK called the chocolate b'stilla