I’ve been playing these web-based mind reading games where the computer tries to figure out what I’m thinking about in just 20 yes or no questions. The thing that blows my mind is how often it gets the right answer, even when I pick really obscure things.
Like yesterday I was thinking of a stapler and it nailed it in 15 questions. Another time I picked a random movie character and it got that too. It’s almost creepy how good these systems are at narrowing down possibilities.
What kind of technology or methods do these AI systems use to be so effective? Are they using some kind of massive database or is there special logic behind how they pick which questions to ask next? I’m really curious about the mechanics that make them work so well.