The Ups and Downs of AI

The Ups and Downs of AI

I”m thinking that AI will significantly improve elevator service in large buildings. Many years ago, the huge Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square introduced a system whereby a guest simply hit a floor number on a common pad and was directed to the best elevator in a bank of perhaps a dozen or more. When it arrived, you were promptly delivered to your floor, usually nonstop.

I think what will happen is that AI will control where elevators “cruise” given checkout and checkin times, special events and meetings, and so forth. They will indicate on each floor (as many airport underground trains do) how long your wait will be (which should stop people from futilely pressing the up/down buttons which has zero affect on their arrival). And I foresee that someone approaching as the doors are closing can say, “Hold the elevator,” and the doors will remain open for a few more seconds (rather than the current risk of breaking your hand trying to insert it in the space between the closing doors, or counting on the increasingly poor manners of people already on board to hold the door).

Those will all be improvements. Of course, they won't be as significant at Elisha Otis inventing the ride (and the safety brake) 170 years ago, before the Civil War. I'm just saying, let's keep AI in perspective.