All You Need To Know About Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Shalom Solomon 27th January, 2021

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term a majority have heard in movies like Terminator, Iron Man and my all-time favourite Matrix. As a result of this, many including yours faithfully at a point associate AI with mainly Robots.

AI is one of the top trending topics in the tech world with its incorporation in self-driving cars, mobile phones, applications, and the manufacturing industry. Though, some big wigs in the tech world like Elon Musk have expressed concerns over the development of AI, with the machine being able to learn on its own, we might have something like the Matrix situation or I, Robot (lol, I kinda like movies).

So, if you are like me that thought AIs are human looking robots, sit back and join me letâ€™s get a crash course on Artificial Intelligence.

First off, What is Artificial Intelligence?

The term Artificial Intelligence was coined by John McCarthy in 1956. But the idea itself was birthed way earlier by the mathematician Alan Turingâ€™s question in 1950: â€œCan machines think?â€. We can say, that AI is an attempt to give an affirmative answer to Turingâ€™s question.

Photo Credit - Pixabay

Simply put, Artificial Intelligence is the branch of science concerned with the development of machines with the ability to imitate human intelligence to perform task. Essentially, these machines do not need lines of code to perform tasks; they learn, and perform them on their own. Facebook for instance uses AI to detect fake accounts, hate speech, spam, graphic violence and takes action according to the unique situation.

AI is based on the concept that human intelligence and learning can be broken down into basic, simple steps that a machine can imitate. AI systems are meant to demonstrate some of the behaviours associated with human intelligence like planning, learning, manipulation, problem solving, reasoning, perception and to an extent, creativity and social intelligence.

Types of Artificial Intelligence

There are basically two types of AI, the narrow and general AI.

â€¢ Narrow AI: is also known as weak AI, it is the most common type of Artificial Intelligence. We see it in the speech and language recognition of Siri on iPhones, Google assistant on Android phones, the HiTranslate App. Narrow AI are programmed to learn or are taught to perform specific tasks. They have limitations written in their codes, so there are tasks they cannot learn unlike humans.

â€¢ Artificial General Intelligence: Is also called strong AI. AGI is totally different from the kind of Artificial intelligence we see every day. It is meant to imitate the adaptive kind of intelligence humans have. Strong AI is totally the kind we see in movies like Terminator, Bollywoodâ€™s Robot and the ancient Short Circuit (1986). AGI can learn to perform different types of tasks from cooking to writing a thesis on Global Warming. Surveys conducted have led to the prediction that AGI should be expected between 2045 and 2050. Though there have been notable advancements in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence like Sophia the Robot, some experts argue that we have a limited understanding of the human brain so AGI might be hundreds of years away.

Objectives of Artificial Intelligence

According to Bernard Marr, the objectives of AI categorically includes:

a. To build systems that think exactly like humans do (strong AI)

b. To just get systems to work without figuring out how human reasoning works (weak AI)

c. Use human reasoning as a model but not necessarily the end goal.

Suggested: WHAT IS HYPERTEXT?

Uses of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is used in daily activities like web search engines, social media like Facebook and Instagram, Digital assistants like Google Assistant and Siri, Autonomous vehicles (Self-driving cars). Artificial Intelligence is also used in the Industrial sector for manufacturing, transportation, healthcare sector, marketing and the business sector.

AI might as well be the future of technology, the possibilities of its development and ability are endless. Concerns have been expressed over the implications of a highly developed AI that might be more intelligent than humans (we might be talking about an AI Apocalypse).

Well, thatâ€™s it for now. Was this helpful? Hope it was as enlightening as promised and you are now better informed on Artificial Intelligence?

Have a nice day :)