Uber, Netflix and airports. How artificial intelligence is changing familiar services

Still from the film “Artificial Intelligence”.

Amblin Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures

On April 29, Republic-Weekly published an article by music producer Sergei Podosinov about artificial intelligence in the music industry. What other industries has machine learning already penetrated, and we may not even notice it? Here are some examples.

Pricing

Situation. You got up at 5 am, there is no public transport - you need to call a taxi to the airport.

Open Uber and see the price: €20. Where did she come from?

This number is the result of the Uber surge engine. The price is determined by AI, and a role is played not only by supply and demand in a specific geofence, but also by dozens of external signals: weather, day of the week, historical data, holidays, local events. On New Year's Eve 2014–2015 in New York, surge dropped by 26 minutes - it stopped working at its peak. The price returned to x1.0 instead of the expected x2.7. What happened next is this: passengers who had been hesitant before saw the “normal” price and rushed to place an order. Drivers, on the contrary, lost the incentive to go to hot spots and dispersed. Demand has grown, supply has collapsed. Of all those who pressed “call”, less than 25% ended up getting into the car.

Well, €20. Let's go.

Uber car

Photo: AP/TASS

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