[LINK] Complementary GenAI

[Roger Clarke]

I've prattled on about complementary artefact intelligence:
https://rogerclarke.com/EC/AIOP.html#ReC
and about generative AI:
https://rogerclarke.com/EC/RGAI-C.html

For the record, I'm relieved to say Complementary GenAI does exist.

I put a carefully-composed request in the Google search slot, and it 
declined to offer any expressly-marked AI-based response.  (And still 
only found the two sources we'd long since located).

Here's what Perplexity.AI said:

Q:  What sources can you find for Samuel Burton OBE of ABS?

I could not find any clear, authoritative public sources that identify a 
“Samuel Burton OBE” specifically associated with an organisation 
abbreviated as “ABS” (for example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics) 
or similar.

What turns up for “Samuel Burton”

Biographical entries and obituaries for various people named Samuel (or 
S.) Burton, but none combining the name, the OBE honour, and a role at 
an “ABS”.

Company and professional listings where “Burton” and “ABS” appear 
together, but these relate to private companies (such as A.B.S. (Burton) 
Limited in the UK or unrelated individuals on professional networks) and 
do not mention an OBE.

What this likely means

If Samuel Burton OBE of “ABS” exists, available open sources do not 
currently surface him in a way that is clearly linkable to that honour 
and that organisation.

The reference may be internal, informal, or in materials not indexed 
online (for example, internal honours lists, print-only documents, or 
paywalled databases).

How you might track this down

Check official honours lists in the relevant country (for instance, the 
UK or Australian honours databases) for “Samuel Burton” or “S. Burton” 
with an OBE, then cross‑reference with any affiliation to an “ABS”.

If “ABS” is the Australian Bureau of Statistics, contact their media or 
communications unit or search their annual reports and senior executive 
biographies; if it is another body (e.g., a professional society, a 
company), try its official site, annual reports, or historical archives.

If you have more context (country, approximate dates, or what ABS stands 
for), share that and I can suggest more targeted places to look.

_______

It missed these sources (are the databases shielded?):
https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/search?searchText=Samuel%20burton
https://tributes.smh.com.au/au/obituaries/smh-au/name/samuel-burton-obituary?id=44470269

And it didn't have access to Ch.9 of 'Computing in Australia', which has 
a mention of him on p.138 - a book that needs to be digitised some time.

It noted that ABS might mean Aust Bureau of Stats, but didn't search for 
or didn't detect the agency's title during the earlier part of Burton's 
time there.

But it was entirely consistent with what we'd turned up, and vitally, in 
respect of the Samuel being sought, didn't make anything up.

(A few later experiments with gemini.google.com were also positive, in 
this case iterative rather than one-hit.  Copilot was also iterative, 
but archetypally Microsoft, i.e. ineffective, and even somehow missed 
the OBE listing even when it did a search on the official database).


Our assembly from publicly-available sources:

Samuel Burton (1925-2012) was a prominent figure in the early days of 
computing at the Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics (later ABS).  He 
oversaw the implementation and management of automatic dara processing 
(ADP) systems for processing national census and economic data, usiing 
Control Data Corporation (CDC) equipment.  He was a member of the ACS 
during its foundational years, and a foundation Fellow in 1969.  He was 
awarded an OBE in 1980.

___________________

Roger Clarke                           mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916  http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd     78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow                         UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science   Australian National University