What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence is the ability of a machine or a computer program to 'think' and 'learn' a complicated task, just like the way humans do, by repeated sequences of trail and error.
Well, the term itself "Artificial Intelligence" was coined by John McCarthy in 1956 to indicate a sub branch of computer science.
The machines can be made intelligent by making them interact with their environment and when it receives data back it interprets this data in a manner considered intelligent.
When someone mentions “artificial intelligence”(AI), what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
Most of us imagine an army of human-like robots rebelling against humanity, while a few—folks from a more positive thinking community—are envisioning a bright future where AI serves them in all possible ways from walking a dog early in the morning when the weather is unpleasant to peeling tangerines at Christmas.
While the second scenario is certainly fun, it is a utopia per se. A reality with robots rising up against people, however, is a much more probable event.
If you believe AI will soon become the greatest existential threat to humanity, we’ve got some good news for you.
Jokes aside, the debate within the global tech community is not centered on the impact of human-like AI—as the general public thinks—but rather on the possibility of ever achieving this technology outright. Professionals are absorbed in discussions about how to define “human-like” and “intelligence.” These definitions may seem trivial to outsiders but understanding the human mind and intelligence are, in fact, critical to determining the timeline of milestones for AI. Experts are still not certain how this kind of intelligence will manifest or how soon day X will come, but it is clear that we are moving towards this reality with increasing speed.
This means it is high time to finally understand what AI is all about.
What Is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Before digging deeper into the topic of AI, let’s briefly discuss what artificial intelligence is and how it works.
A more nuanced definition is that artificial Intelligence is an interdisciplinary concept that studies the possibility of creating machines capable of interacting with their environment and acting upon the received data in the a manner considered intelligent.
While some people falsely consider AI a technology, the more accurate approach would be seeing it as a broad concept in which machines are able to deal with tasks in a way we would call intelligent or smart.
There are certain things a machine/computer program must be capable of to be considered AI.
First, it should be able to mimic human thought process and behavior. Second, it should act in a human-like way—intelligent, rational, and ethical.
It is worth mentioning that the AI concept relates both to Weak AI and General AI that has cognitive functions. Stanford has outlined a helpful AI FAQ on these topics.
Is AI The Same As Machine Learning?
Not really. Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, they are not the same.
Artificial intelligence is a broader concept, while machine learning is the most common application of AI.
We should understand machine learning as a current application of AI that is focused on development of computer programs that can access data and learn from it automatically, without human assistance or intervention. The entire machine learning concept is based on the assumption that we should give machines access to information and let them learn from it themselves.
Artificial intelligence, in its turn, is a bunch of technologies that include machine learning and some other technologies like natural language processing, inference algorithms, neural networks, etc.
Where Is AI Used?
Many people associate AI with the distant future. They incorrectly believe that despite all the buzz around artificial intelligence, the technology is not likely to become a part of their lives anytime soon. Little do they know how many aspects of their lives are already affected by AI.
Take Siri or Alexa—personal assistants that have already become the new normal for thousands of people around the globe. These and similar intelligent gadgets are able to recognize our speech (read: “understand what we want or need”), analyze the information they have access to, and provide an answer or solution. What is remarkable (and a little scary) about such assistants is that they continuously learn about their users until the point at which they are able to accurately anticipate users’ needs.
Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music are some other touching points between AI and you. These services are capable of recommending music based on your interests. These apps monitor the choices you make, insert them into a learning algorithm, and suggest music you are most likely to enjoy. This particular use of AI is probably one of the simplest among all, but it does a good job helping us discover new songs and artists.
AI is making headway in areas you might least expect it. For example, when you come across short news stories on the Associated Press or Yahoo!, chances are good they were written by AI. The current state of artificial intelligence already allows for some basic robot writing. It might be not yet ready to compose in-depth articles or creative stories, but does a pretty good job writing short and simple articles like sport recaps and financial summaries.
Other examples of artificial intelligence in use today include smart home devices like Google’s NEST, self-driving cars like those produced by Tesla, and online games like Alien: Isolation.
Here at StopAd, we rely on artificial intelligence, too.
Thanks to the AI we’ve developed, our ad blocker is able to detect ads just like a human does. This means identifying and blocking ads regardless of their placement, size, type, and format. StopAd is even capable of identifying native advertising—ads designed to mimic the structure and layout of the website they appear on. Furthermore, we sometimes use AI to conduct our own investigations.
Will AI Take Over?
Some people claim that AI is still in its infancy. Others assure us that we are only a few years away from AI gaining control over humanity. The truth, however, lies somewhere in between.
According to the most trustworthy forecasts out there, AI will outsmart humans at virtually everything in the following 45 years. Obviously, this won’t happen overnight. Industries will be falling under AI’s spell one-by-one.
Experts predict that within the next decade AI will outperform humans in relatively simple tasks such as translating languages, writing school essays, and driving trucks. More complicated tasks like writing a bestselling book or working as a surgeon, however, will take machines much more time to learn. AI is expected to master these two skills by 2049 and 2053 accordingly.
It is obviously too soon to talk about AI-powered creatures like those from Westworld or Ex Machinastealing our jobs or, worse yet, rising against humanity, but we are certainly moving in that direction. Meanwhile, top tech professionals and scientists are getting increasingly concerned about our future and encourage further research on the potential impact of AI.
It looks like those who understand the full potential of AI are more scared of it than those who only know the basics. A recent scandal between Google’s executives and employees may serve as a proof. In April, employees of Google demanded the company to stop working on a so-called “Pentagon Project” as they were afraid of being involved in the business of war. The project officially known as “Project Maven” is meant to use AI to make it easier to classify images of people and objects shot by drones. The potential danger is that the life-or-death decisions of what needs to be bombarded and what doesn’t will be made without humans involvement.
The military explains that their only intent is to reduce the current workload and minimize the number of tedious tasks performed by humans—something AI is extremely well-suited for.
Given that lives of people might be at stake, however, can these tasks even be called tedious? And there’s another critical question. In a world like this, who will bear the blame of killing innocent people?
It is a widespread point of view that one day not only will AI exceed human performance but it will also extend beyond human control. With so many fearful articles out there, questions like “is artificial intelligence safe?” or “is artificial intelligence bad for people?” should come as no surprise. AI is obviously exciting but simultaneously warrants caution.
Closing Thoughts
Given the innate advantage AI machines have over us humans (accuracy, speed, etc.) an AI rebellion scenario is something we should not completely dismiss. Time will show us whether AI is our greatest existential threat or a tech blessing that will improve our quality of life in many different ways.
So far, one thing remains perfectly clear: creating AI is one of the most remarkable events for humankind. After all, AI is considered a major component of 4th Industrial Revolution, and its potential socioeconomic impact is believed to be as huge as the invention of electricity once had.
In light of this, the smartest approach would be keeping an eye on how the technology evolves, taking advantage of the improvements it brings to our lives, and not getting too nervous at the thought of machine takeover.
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