CALO
Encyclopedia
CALO was an artificial intelligence project that attempted to integrate numerous AI technologies into a cognitive assistant. CALO is an acronym for "Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes". The name was inspired by the Latin word "calonis," which means "soldier’s servant". The project started in May 2003 and ran for five years, ending in 2008.
The CALO effort has had two major spin-offs, the Siri
intelligent software assistant
that is now part of the iOS 5 in the iPhone 4S
, and the Trapit project, a web scraper that makes intelligent selections of web content based on user preferences.
was the lead integrator responsible for coordinating the effort to produce an assistant that can live with and learn from its users, provide value to them, and then pass a yearly evaluation that measures how well the system has learned to do its job.
, a non-profit research institute in Menlo Park, California, has made available a collection of successful machine learning and reasoning technologies developed in the PAL program, primarily from the CALO project. The available technologies include both general-purpose learning methods along with more focused learning applications.
The PAL software and related publications are available at the PAL Framework website.
The PAL capabilities have been modularized, packaged, and adapted to industry standards to facilitate their incorporation into target applications. Various infrastructure components and APIs are available to simplify interaction with the technologies.
The available technologies were developed by research teams at SRI International
, Carnegie Mellon University
, the University of Massachusetts
, the University of Rochester
, the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Oregon State University
, the University of Southern California
, and Stanford University
.
The CALO effort has had two major spin-offs, the Siri
Siri (software)
Siri is an intelligent software assistant and knowledge navigator functioning as a personal assistant application for iOS. The application uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of web services...
intelligent software assistant
Intelligent software assistant
Intelligent software assistant is a software agent that is also an intelligent agent which performs a task with minimum specific directions from users. It evolves from the concept of "virtual personal assistant", a cognitive assistant that learns and organizes...
that is now part of the iOS 5 in the iPhone 4S
IPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a widescreen iPod with a touchscreen, mobile phone, and internet communicator. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, iPhone 4, but is host to a range...
, and the Trapit project, a web scraper that makes intelligent selections of web content based on user preferences.
Overview
CALO was an artificial intelligence project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under its Personalized Assistant that Learns (PAL) program. Its five-year contract brought together 300+ researchers from 25 of the top university and commercial research institutions, with the goal of building a new generation of cognitive assistants that can reason, learn from experience, be told what to do, explain what they are doing, reflect on their experience, and respond robustly to surprise. SRI InternationalSRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
was the lead integrator responsible for coordinating the effort to produce an assistant that can live with and learn from its users, provide value to them, and then pass a yearly evaluation that measures how well the system has learned to do its job.
CALO Functions
CALO assists its user with six high-level functions:- Organizing and Prioritizing Information: As the user works with email, appointments, web pages, files, and so forth, CALO uses machine learning algorithms to build a queryable model of who works on which projects, what role they play, how important they are, how documents and deliverables are related to this, etc.
- Preparing Information Artifacts: CALO can help its user put together new documents such as PowerPoint presentations, leveraging learning about structure and content from previous documents accessed in the past.
- Mediating Human Communications: CALO provides assistance as its user interacts with other people, both in electronic forums (e.g. email) and in physical meetings. If given access to participate in a meeting, CALO automatically generates a meeting transcript, tracks action item assignments, detects roles of participants, and so forth. CALO can also put together a "PrepPak" for a meeting containing information to read ahead of time or have at your fingertips as the meeting progresses.
- Task Management: CALO can automate routine tasks for you (e.g. travel authorizations), and can be taught new procedures and task by observing and interacting with the user.
- Scheduling and Reasoning in Time: CALO can learn your preferences for when you need things done by, and help you manage your busy schedule (PTIME published in ACM TIST).
- Resource allocation: As part of Task management, CALO can learn to acquire new resources (electronic services and real-world people) to help get a job done.
CALO Evaluation
Every year, the CALO system, after living with its user for a period of time, is given an achievement-style test of 153 "administration assistant" questions, primarily focused on what it has learned about the user's life. Evaluators measure how well CALO's performance on these questions improves year-over-year, and how much of CALO's performance is due to "learning in the wild" (new knowledge, tasks, and inferences it has been able to acquire on its own, as opposed to function or knowledge hard-wired into the system by a developer).PAL Framework
SRI InternationalSRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
, a non-profit research institute in Menlo Park, California, has made available a collection of successful machine learning and reasoning technologies developed in the PAL program, primarily from the CALO project. The available technologies include both general-purpose learning methods along with more focused learning applications.
The PAL software and related publications are available at the PAL Framework website.
The PAL capabilities have been modularized, packaged, and adapted to industry standards to facilitate their incorporation into target applications. Various infrastructure components and APIs are available to simplify interaction with the technologies.
The available technologies were developed by research teams at SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
, Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
, the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
, the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
, the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.