The AI Coin-sorter Analogy

I’ve had this analogy in my mind for a while for AI. Specifically, neural
nets.

Imagine a coin sorter with a flat surface the size of the sun.

So the idea for sorting coins is that you just throw random coins at it, and
they fall into the system and bounce around and get filtered into certain
paths.

But in this system, the openings on the surface don’t just have a few sizes
of openings, but billions. All different shapes and sizes of slots. And
there are also billions of different sizes of coins.

And when you throw coins (data) at the surface of the sun, that’s what
changes the shapes of the slots.

But then, it’s actually layer upon layer underneath. And the billions of
shapes of the slots on the top layer then shape different shapes and sizes
of the slots on the layers below. Also billions.

And it does this for multiple layers.

Now, once you have that in your mind, now imagine that it’s not actually
coins. It’s data coming in. Data in the form of light.

Light from Earth.

The Earth is a giant flashlight. It’s shining all the knowledge of humanity
at the surface of the Sun.

And as that light hits the full surface of the sun, it carves billions of
tiny nooks and crannies into the top surface, which shapes the nooks and
cranies on all the thousands of layers below.

Until finally—on the other side—light comes out. And that light is the
wisdom of “AI”.

A shapeable object

Here’s why I like this visualization.

1. It shows how the data shapes the filter.

2. It shows that the light that comes out the other side is the result of
   both the light and the filter.

3. It shows that the thing isn’t foreign!

#3 is my favorite.

When all of humanity’s knowledge is sent to the Sun, that’s what shapes the
Sun. That’s what burns all those intricate patterns into its layers.

The filter isn’t a separate thing. The filter is Earth’s data, burned into a
shape.

And thus, the output of the filter also isn’t foreign.

It’s just a view of what we sent it.