[DaveWalk]

> a "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" issue

To me, this phrase is the essence of much of Google's features. To my discredit, I chuckled when I read the blog's phrase "we've used...deep neural networks to improve...YouTube thumbnails." I am certain this was no easy task, and a resulting technical breakthrough. But doesn't it sound kind of petty?

Of course, what's petty for one is essential for another. I wish every e-mail client had that "undo send" feature, which was just GMail whimsy years ago. Is the line between petty and essential always going to be blurred?

[jsolson]

Improving YouTube thumbnails can be a huge usability win Consider a series of lectures or DIY videos with a common setting. Pulling out a frame that captures something unique about the video (be it the DIY item being worked on in close-up or an important theorem on a title slide or blackboard) makes it easier for users to separate content and find specific items.

[roel_v]

Then what isn't 'petty'? It's not like it's zero-sum, there are also people working on using AI for recognizing cancer cells on medical imaging, or to manage climate change risk. And if we don't try, we'll never know what is 'petty' and what is useful. And also, we can learn a lot from the 'exercise' we get in developing small-scale applications of machine learning, which can then be applied later to more 'worthy' applications.

[strong_ai]

Thumbnails drive engagement -- doesn't seem petty to me.