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.
No comments:
Post a Comment