Got a Hunch?
Posted by Jacque on June 29th, 2009
I read about a new decision-making website called Hunch in the Seattle Times.
Started last year by a group of computer scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hunch hopes to combine the insight of large groups of people with artificial intelligence to provide a good answer to all your questions. Caterina Fake, who co-founded successful photo sharing site Flickr, has been brought in as a co-founder and product designer for Hunch.
To start with, you might want to explore the tool. Then learn more about how Hunch works by taking their tour. The site says, “Hunch chooses questions intelligently and adapts them depending on how you answer. Topics get smarter as more people train them. So new topics may start out not so smart, but they’ll get smarter over time.” Users contribute to Hunch in various ways:
- Don’t like the questions that Hunch asked you? Submit a different question.
- Don’t see the result you wanted on Hunch? Propose a better result.
- Looking to make a decision that isn’t on Hunch? Add a new topic.
The more you use it, the more questions you answer, the better the tool should work for you. I tried it out by shopping for a new cell phone. By answering just a few questions ranging from preferred price point to desired features, I was then given several matching choices I might like. I found them reasonable, but I would also regard them as options to explore — along with some from further research.
I think it will be interesting to see how this tool develops over time as more users contribute to the knowledge base, and of course, any individual wanting guidance would do well to set up an account and spend some time on the site answering questions.
