--- title: Amazon Mechanical Turk date: "2005-11-09T12:00:00Z" categories: - links wp_id: 509 description: I found Amazon's Mechanical Turk API, which allows software to invoke human workers for tasks computers can't handle. It treats human intelligence like a remote procedure call, creating what Amazon calls "Artificial Artificial Intelligence." keywords: [amazon mechanical turk, artificial artificial intelligence, web services, crowdsourcing, remote procedure call, human-in-the-loop] --- The ultimate irony. Amazon has written an API that invokes humans. > [Amazon Mechanical Turk](http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/103-2170605-6811035?node=15879911) provides a web services API for computers to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web services API to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call - the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. In reality, a network of humans fuels this Artificial Artificial Intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work. --- ## Comments - **Karthik** _11 Nov 2005 5:03 pm_: The robots are taking over the world