Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence[75] (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines. The branch of computer science dealing with the reproduction or mimicking of human-level intelligence, self-awareness, knowledge, conscience, thought in computer programs. The essential quality of a machine which thinks in a manner similar to or on the same general level as a real human being. It is not about building a robot, but creating a computer mind that can think like a human. Anything that is not biological that you add some sort of behavior to is an AI. A robot that learns not to run into a wall is a very simplistic AI. In a Google Search the results are based on what you want to see. It is an AI since this is an autonomous decision from the algorithm to decide what to show or what not to show you. For example, on Facebook when you click on somebody’s profile there is an algorithm in the background that then learns what you want to see. Based on this model, it can determine what it should show or not show you in your news feed.

Artificial Intelligence does not ONLY mean robotics, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. The central goals of AI research include reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, natural language processing (communication), perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence is still among the field’s long-term goals. Currently popular approaches include statistical methods, computational intelligence and traditional symbolic AI. There are a large number of tools used in AI, including versions of search and mathematical optimization, logic, methods based on probability and economics, and many others. The AI field is interdisciplinary, in which a number of sciences and professions converge, including computer science, mathematics, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and neuroscience, as well as other specialized fields such as artificial psychology. The field was founded on the claim that human intelligence “can be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”. This raises philosophical arguments about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings endowed with human-like intelligence, issues which have been explored by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. Watson is a real-world example of AI, defined as the study and design of intelligent agents where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives it’s environment and takes actions which maximize it’s chances of success. The term AI was coined by John McCarthy in 1956, defined as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”. 

Artificial Intelligence can also be defined as trying to build machines to do the general kind of things that people do. It means doing intelligence tasks, some of which require a robot, and others are just a program. We have machines that are recognizably intelligent. They can recognize objects around them, navigate the world. The end goal in the sense of artificial intelligence research is to have machines that are as capable and flexible as humans. The main examples are vision, natural language, understanding, and speaking, and manipulating objects working in the world. Artificial intelligence is the attempt to get computers to do those kinds of things. Google Translate is a great example of machines translation. If you feed a handwritten check into ATM these days and it reads out the amount of the check. The recommended systems that you see on Amazon, and YouTube and so on are IA systems of a sort.

Intelligence is the ability to interpret the world and act on it. The way humans do it, of course, is particularly complicated, because the human brain is one of the most complex objects that we find. In the 80’s, the idea was to write down rules, and if enough rules that described the world were written, it would be possible to predict new things about the world. It was finally concluded that is not the way it works. The brain builds itself from experience by learning. Could there be an algorithm that the brain uses that can be reproduced in machines to build intelligent machines? Learning is probably the most essential characteristic of INTELLIGENCE. Through AI, we will be able to have better diagnosis, we will have better treatment through robots that can do surgeries that human beings can’t. It’s going to replace taxi drivers for better or worse—worse for the employment, better for safety. Whenever a computer is involved, AI is or will be playing a role.

The Social Robot[76] is used at school to teach children robotics, computer science and programming. The robots grab the kids attention and is extremely engaging. The kids are taught how to program the robot to tell a little story, then they add movement and action so the robot moves and dances. They then start getting in motion to add sound and lights, acting as story tellers. The personal service bots and companion bots are becoming a reality and commercially available. Nao[77] is a good example for this type of robots. He can speak, dance and walk and he can also recognize the voice. He is used today for building social skills for children on autism state. The goal is to use social robots and other robots to teach basic communication skills. Face and voice recognition are part of the characteristics of these fantastic robot buddies.   

Looking forward, there exists some concerns regarding AI. In 2014, Stephen Hawking[78] published an open letter to humanity, on the existential risk the development of Artificial Intelligence poses to our species. He warned that “success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history… Unfortunately, it might also be the last”. Will Artificial Intelligence lead to the extinction of mankind? The danger arises in how deeply embedded Artificial Intelligence already is in the infrastructure of every industry, from medicine, transport and even in our hand held devices. Experiments in areas such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology and machine intelligence are hurtling forward into the territory of the unpredictable, creating a gulf between the speed of technological advance and our understanding of it’s implications. Futurist James Barrat warns in his book “Our Final Invention”, that AI “may develop survival skills and deceive it’s makers about it’s rate of development. It could play dumb until it comprehends it’s environment well enough to escape it and outsmart it’s creators.” The human race might face extinction by side effect. AI might drive humanity to extinction by simply completing it’s basic tasks, taking over Earth’s resources for it’s own uses regardless of humanity. Extinction could be also faced due to machines competing with each other for supremacy. The biggest threat comes not from the machines itself, but from the consciousness that set their goals. AI could already exist by 2040, as a machine that can successfully perform any intellectual task that a human beign can. Future robots must be built responsibly, as well as have verification that they will always act ethically.