11 votes

Finland said it aims to teach 1% – or more than fifty million – of all Europeans basic skills in artificial intelligence through a free online course

8 comments

  1. [4]
    Thrabalen
    Link
    Hold on. Reuters, are you okay? 50 million is 1% of all Europeans? So, you're saying there are five billion Europeans? The idea is awesome, by the way, but come on, this is simple math.

    Hold on. Reuters, are you okay? 50 million is 1% of all Europeans? So, you're saying there are five billion Europeans?

    The idea is awesome, by the way, but come on, this is simple math.

    10 votes
    1. [3]
      cfabbro
      Link Parent
      🤦

      One percent of an EU population of about 512 million would equate to more than 50 million people.

      🤦

      9 votes
      1. [2]
        Eric_the_Cerise
        Link Parent
        Are you quoting to support or counter Thrabalen's comment? Because, just to clarify, 1% of 512 million is ~5 million, not 50 million. Somebody slipped on their decimal point, it seems.

        Are you quoting to support or counter Thrabalen's comment?

        Because, just to clarify, 1% of 512 million is ~5 million, not 50 million. Somebody slipped on their decimal point, it seems.

        4 votes
        1. cfabbro
          Link Parent
          In support. It's a quote from the article. I was facepalming because the Reuters journalist screwed up the math and somehow their fact checkers failed to catch it too.

          In support. It's a quote from the article. I was facepalming because the Reuters journalist screwed up the math and somehow their fact checkers failed to catch it too.

          5 votes
  2. [3]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. 0d_billie
      Link Parent
      Do you have a link to the course?

      Do you have a link to the course?

      4 votes
    2. rogue_cricket
      Link Parent
      Gosh, that would be fantastic to have as tacit knowledge across the board. I've had people approach me with "ideas for apps" that were flat-out impossible. ("Can you take a picture of a fruit and...

      Gosh, that would be fantastic to have as tacit knowledge across the board. I've had people approach me with "ideas for apps" that were flat-out impossible. ("Can you take a picture of a fruit and determine where it's from" was my favourite.)

      It doesn't help that a lot of "AI" apps are actually powered by mass amounts of low-wage humans working for Mechanical Turk or similar. It's understandable that it's not clear to the average Joe what is and isn't possible.

      2 votes
  3. [2]
    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link
    Curious ... the author (apparently Finnish) posted a corrected "5-million-not-50" version of the article, but for me, at least, it keeps re-directing back to the old/wrong 50-million version....

    Curious ... the author (apparently Finnish) posted a corrected "5-million-not-50" version of the article, but for me, at least, it keeps re-directing back to the old/wrong 50-million version.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/finland-education-ai/corrected-update-1-finland-seeks-to-teach-5-million-europeans-basics-on-ai-idUSL8N28K5LC

    6 votes
    1. Thrabalen
      Link Parent
      I appreciate knowing this... I was wondering if the 50 million was wrong, or the 1%.

      I appreciate knowing this... I was wondering if the 50 million was wrong, or the 1%.

      1 vote