Artificial Intelligence!

Overview

    There has been a number of movies on robots with their own intelligence taking over mankind and then a protagonist saving the world at the end of the day. But, how much do we actually know about Artificial Intelligence (AI)?, their capabilities?, applications and most importantly how likely is it, for those scenarios from movies to come true?! 😁 In this post I'll be writing about basics of AI and aspects surrounding it; how far are they on the ladder of evolution and where exactly can they be used.

What is an AI??

     Before defining an AI, first and foremost thing to clarify is that, No! an AI or a robot doesn't necessarily mean a humanoid which looks like humans; they can be anything from small drones, kids' toys to smart homes and huge machines. Now, keeping aside textbook definitions; an Artificial Intelligence is the one that's possessed and exhibited by man made machines in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals. In layman's terms, any man made innovations ranging from mobiles/computers/watches to homes/vehicles/weapons can be impregnated with AI.

How does an AI work??

We all have seen Jarvis from Iron Man movies work wonders by managing tiniest bit of work to analyzing and simulating Petabytes of data! This kind of AI is sure futuristic but certainly not science fiction today. The basic idea of an AI is to give it the tools to learn the processes involved in a task it was designed for; AI in action, learns what it should do while it does the task. A fully functional AI can take decisions based on  its previous actions and its outcomes, its present condition and the future task to be accomplished while handling any tangents which may occur while performing a task. This also is the key difference between AI and machine learning (which basically involves a set of predefined responses for a set of premeditated situations).

Are there any real world AI applications?!

    Technical answer to this is Yes! But then again, our technology has not yet flourished so much so as to manufacture a fully functional Jarvis!(that would be cool though.. 😎) The ones that are out in the real world are those that we use in our daily lives. To begin with, we have the famous OK Google, then we have Alexa by Amazon. Both these incorporate AI to a certain extent and also implement machine learning. These AI’s learn as you interact with them in order to provide you with seamless user experience. It learns about your likes/dislikes when you browse(web, music, people, general information,etc.) and crunching on all these data, the AI deduces your tastes in life and provides you with the exact content suggestions by the next time you browse.

Sophia- humanoid robot

---The latest news in the field of AI from Google I/O 2018 is that google assistant will be able to recognize objects that you point at with the help of AI and Computer Vision. Going further, google assistant will be able to answer calls for you, book appointments and have a conversation with you like normal human beings do.

--- Moreover, an innovation developed by Hanson Robotics: Sophia can be considered to be the greatest feat achieved in the ladder of evolution of AI and robotics. Sophia is a humanoid embedded with AI and machine learning who has become the first ever robot to get a citizenship and its from Saudi Arabia. She is capable of displaying more than 50 facial expressions and can engage in lengthy debates with human beings (result of years of AI learning).

Applications and fears surrounding it

   The applications of AI's are limited only to imagination; if implemented in right sectors like health care, teaching in schools and colleges, smart homes, etc. they can transmute the way we live and definitely add quality to our daily lives. And as far as the world domination of robots is considered, it is only a possibility counting the aspect that AI's with conscience "may" act irrationally like human beings. But on the other hand, like its said: "technology is a double edged sword"; implementing AI's in weapons systems may lead to devastating consequences.