Human-based computation

Human-based computation (HBC), human-assisted computation,[1] ubiquitous human computing or distributed thinking (by analogy to distributed computing) is a computer science technique in which a machine performs its function by outsourcing certain steps to humans, usually as microwork. This approach uses differences in abilities and alternative costs between humans and computer agents to achieve symbiotic human–computer interaction. For computationally difficult tasks such as image recognition, human-based computation plays a central role in training Deep Learning-based Artificial Intelligence systems. In this case, human-based computation has been referred to as human-aided artificial intelligence.[2]

In traditional computation, a human employs a computer[3] to solve a problem; a human provides a formalized problem description and an algorithm to a computer, and receives a solution to interpret.[4] Human-based computation frequently reverses the roles; the computer asks a person or a large group of people to solve a problem,[5] then collects, interprets, and integrates their solutions. This turns hybrid networks of humans and computers into "large scale distributed computing networks".[6][7][8] where code is partially executed in human brains and on silicon based processors.

  1. ^ Shahaf, Dafna; Amir, Eyal (28 March 2007). "Towards a Theory of AI Completeness" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  2. ^ Mühlhoff, Rainer (2019-11-06). "Human-aided artificial intelligence: Or, how to run large computations in human brains? Toward a media sociology of machine learning". New Media & Society. 22 (10): 1868–1884. doi:10.1177/1461444819885334. ISSN 1461-4448. S2CID 209363848.
  3. ^ the term "computer" is used the modern usage of computer, not the one of human computer
  4. ^ Turing, Alan M. (1950). "Computer Machinery and Intelligence" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  5. ^ Fogarty, Terence C. (20 August 2003). "Automatic concept evolution". The Second IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Informatics, 2003. Proceedings. p. 89. doi:10.1109/COGINF.2003.1225961. ISBN 0-7695-1986-5. S2CID 30299981. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  6. ^ von Ahn, Luis (22 August 2012), Human Computation, vol. Google Tech Talk July 26, 2006, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2019-11-22. Cited after Mühlhoff, Rainer (2019). "Human-aided artificial intelligence: Or, how to run large computations in human brains? Toward a media sociology of machine learning". New Media & Society: 146144481988533. doi:10.1177/1461444819885334. ISSN 1461-4448.
  7. ^ Gentry, Craig; Ramzan, Zulfikar; Stubblebine, Stuart. "Secure Distributed Human Computation" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  8. ^ Gentry, Craig; Ramzan, Zulfikar; Stubblebine, Stuart (2005). "Secure Distributed Human Computation". Secure Distributed Human Computation. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 3570. pp. 328–332. doi:10.1007/11507840_28. ISBN 978-3-540-26656-3. Retrieved 12 May 2022.