LESSON 5 How we think - Artificial Intelligence

READING

Practice 1. Do you think the world is generally getting better or getting worse? Why?

Practice 2. READING SKILL – Identify the topic. Read the article, then choose the best definition.

a. confirmation bias (n): the mistake we make when we don’t think carefully enough about a
subject and think that our first idea is correct

b. confirmation bias (n): the thinking habit that means we accept evidence that supports the
opinion we already have and don’t accept other evidence

CONFIRMATION BIAS
Scientists believe that the average person receives about
34 gigabytes of information and sees or hears 100,500

What words every day. That’s a lot of information, and no

Objectives confirms one can possibly concentrate on all of it. We choose
facts your what we pay attention to and what we think is
beliefs important. That creates a problem: confirmation
bias. We like to be right, and so we listen to evidence
that supports what we already believe and we ignore
What you see evidence that goes against what we believe. For
example, if you believe that the world is generally getting worse,
you will see only evidence to support your opinion when you hear the news. You will pay attention
to stories about rising crime and environmental problems. And you will ignore evidence that
suggests people around the world are getting richer, becoming healthier, and living longer.

Confirmation bias means we see what we want to see. It can create problems. For instance, a
business may try a new strategy. The managers will notice positive results, such as increased
sales, before they notice negative ones, such as increased costs. That could be expensive for the
business. Social media and other websites can make confirmation bias worse. Groups of online
friends often agree with each other, They easily share information and new stories that support
their opinions. They rarely hear the other side of the argument and miss relevant information.
Some people are worried that this kind of “social media bubble” is bad for society.

Is there anything you can do to question your own confirmation bias? You can make an effort to
listen to people with different views. You can visit websites that present a different opinion form
yours. As soon as you do that, you will learn something about how other people think.

Practice 3. Write short answers to the questions.

1. The fact that with so much information, we select what to focus on.
What is the cause of confirmation bias? _____________________________________
The manager might not notice negative results of
2. Why might confirmation bias cause problems for a business? ____________________
a new strategy.
See the following note:
3. Why can social media make confirmation bias worse? __________________________
You can try to hear different points of view.
4. What can you do to prevent confirmation bias? _______________________________

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VOCABULARY

Practice 4. Complete the sentences with the words and phrases in bold in Practice 2.

1. pay attention to the lecturer, you will understand the topic better.
If you _________________
rarely
2. People _________________ listen carefully to other people’s opinions – in fact, they almost never do!
ignore
3. Please don’t _________________ me! Listen to what I’m saying.
4. What _________________
evidence do you have that supports your opinion?
make an effort you’ll improve.
5. I know learning to play an instrument is hard, but if you _________________,
relevant
6. I like to collect all the _________________ information before I make an important decision.
concentrate on my work with all this noise!
7. I can’t _________________

Practice 5. Complete the table with the different forms of the words. Check your ideas in pairs.

Verb Adjective Noun (abstract) Noun (person)

creativity
(5) _____________
create (1) _______________
creative creator
(11) _____________
creation
(6) _____________

powerful
(2) _______________
power power
powerless
(3) _______________

solve solvable solution

(7) ______________ solver

think thought
(8) ______________ thinker

dangerous
(4) _______________ danger

employment
(9) ______________ employer
(12) ______________
employ employable
(10) unemployment
_____________ employee
(13) ______________

GRAMMAR Future time clauses (after, as soon as, before, until, when)

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

Practice 6. Complete the sentences.

1. will call
I _____________ (call) you as soon as I
get
_______________ (get) home.
won't share
2. From now on, I ________ (not share) a story on
check (check) it.
social media until I ______
will get
3. I think the problem ____________ (get) worse
gets
before it _______________ (get) better.
Will you meet
4. __________ (you / meet) me at the airport when
arrive
I ___________ (arrive)?
watch
5. After I ____________ (watch) the movie, I
will tell (tell) you whether I like it or not.
_________

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Practice 7. Fill in the blanks.

Expert Systems

A n expert system is a computer program that uses AI to solve problems. People in various
been
professions have (1) _____________ for
using expert systems (2) _____________ a number of years.
An expert system uses a database of knowledge together with rules
have
for using that knowledge. Scientists (3) _____________ been using
since
them (4) _____________ 1965, when the first expert system was
developed. Many health professionals, such as doctors and
nurses, use expert systems. Health professionals (5)
_______________
have since
been recording our health data (6) _____________
has
the day we were born. Perhaps your doctor (7) _____________
for
been using one (8) _____________ some time to help decide what
is wrong with his or her patients. Expert systems are just one of the
has
ways in which AI (9) _____________ been helping people in the workplace.
Where else do you think expert systems are used?

LISTENING

Practice 8. Do you think machines will be able to think in the future?

Practice 9. LISTENING SKILL – Listen for attitude. Listen to a radio call-in show. Match the callers (1 – 4)
to the statements (a – d).

1. c
Julia: __________ a. This person is confident that AI makes the world safer.
a
2. Rafael: ________ b. This person is afraid that AI will change the economy.
d
3. Megan: ________ c. This person is doubtful that machines will ever be intelligent.
b
4. Victor: _________ d. This person is worried that AI might get out of control.

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Practice 10. Listen to the call-in show again. Then complete the sentences.

1. Julia says that machines are justfollowing rules when they play games such as chess.
_____________
2. Julia says that humans are good at thinking because they have been doing it for 200.000 years
_______________.
tired and bored
3. Rafael says that humans make mistakes because they get ________________.
no human understands
4. Megan says that ______________ how some computer systems work and that’s dangerous.
47%
5. Victor says that machines may do ________________ of American jobs in the future.
in services may lose their jobs.
6. Victor says that people who work ________________

PRONUNCIATION say, says, said

Practice 11. How do we say each of the words in bold? Listen, check, and practice.

1. Some people say that AI is a danger.

2. My mom says that she’ll never lose her job to a robot.
3. My dad said the same thing and then lost his job!

SPEAKING

Practice 12. Think about your chosen career and answer the questions.

1. Are expert systems used in your chosen career now? In what ways?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

2. Do you think expert systems will be used more in your chosen career in the future? In what ways?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. Do you think your chosen career is in danger from expert systems or AI? Why or why not?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Practice 13. IN PAIRS. Ask and answer the questions in Practice 12.

A: I’m planning to be a lawyer in the future. I think that lawyers have been using expert systems for
years to research past cases.

B: Do you think that lawyers will use expert systems more in the future?

CONFIDENT COMMUNICATOR
START TALKING

To start your conversation, use the following phrases:

I’m planning to be a doctor.

I’m hoping to work as an engineer.

I want to work in accounting.

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WRITING

Practice 14. Answer the following questions with your own opinions.

1. Do you and your online friends always agree about things or do you sometimes disagree?
What do you disagree about?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

2. In what ways do you think confirmation bias is a problem?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

3. Now that you’ve read about confirmation bias, will you do anything different when you are
online?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

4. As computers get more powerful, is there a danger to employment from AI?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

5. Will computers ever be powerful enough to understand emotions?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

CONFIDENT COMMUNICATOR
KEEP TALKING

Use the following phrases to give yourself

time to think when asked a question.

That’s a good question.

Let me think about that for a minute.

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