Artificial intelligence is a concept that has fascinated humans ever since computers existed. We’ve made movies and written stories about how AI will change the world (or terrorize its occupants) and we’ve fantasized about AI becoming a part of our everyday lives like in the Jetson’s.
It currently feels like we are getting close to that being our reality. Hype around this topic has never been higher and we are seeing rapid advancements in machine learning technology every day. But really, what even is AI? Could it ever truly be “alive”?
How Does Artificial Intelligence Work?
Artificial intelligence, at its core, is programming that attempts to simulate what humans consider intelligence. Generally, AI should be able to learn from a large set of data and then come up with its own solutions to various problems from that data.
Examples of artificial intelligence include things you wouldn’t really expect:
- Google Maps uses a form of artificial intelligence to help you get to where you need to go.
- Facial recognition of any type uses machine learning to recognize specific people.
- Search recommendation algorithms learn from browsing patterns to suggest webpages it thinks you’ll like.
ChatGPT and POE are also great examples. These are platforms that host large language learning models – or LLMs for short. LLMs then use the large amounts of data they are trained on to answer user questions. These are more advanced though.
What are the Different Types of AI?
You might be thinking “well, none of those examples really feel like the AI I’ve seen in movies!” and you’d be right. That’s because the type of AI portrayed in movies doesn’t really exist right now.
AI can be placed into two different categories, and currently only one truly exists. They are weak/narrow AI and artificial general intelligence or AGI.
What is Weak AI?
Weak or narrow AI is designed to perform a specific task, much like all of the examples I gave earlier. AI chatbots like ChatGPT technically fall under this category as well, because their only purpose is answering questions.
What is Artificial General Intelligence?
Most people think of this type of AI when they hear the term. AGI is artificial intelligence that can mimic the human neural network and is essentially a sentient being.
It would be able to pass the Turing test, and would be capable of creating its own conclusions from any data it has access to. This type of AI doesn’t currently exist. Some believe bots like ChatGPT are an early form of AGI, but many experts disagree. Many think true AGI is a long way away, too.
As you can see, artificial intelligence as we currently know it isn’t truly intelligent in the way most people would expect. Many people believe using “AI” to describe something could even be misleading due to the way people expect AI to behave from media portrayal.
Augmented Intelligence or Artificial Intelligence?
Many experts in the field suggest that modern AI like ChatGPT should be called “augmented intelligence” instead. This term suggests AI is working for humans as a tool, rather than having its own conscious thoughts and feelings.
Will we ever get the kind of AI seen in movies like The Terminator? Only time will tell.
AI and Ethical Considerations
AI has the potential to make our lives better, it also has issues that need to be addressed sooner than later. The faster technology advances, the sooner we need to figure some things out.
Machine learning bias
AI only pulls information from the data its creator trained it from. It can therefore carry any biases its creator had into the mainstream. It also has the potential to do things its creator didn’t specifically bar it from, especially if it has the ability to learn from public conversation.
A few examples of this are Microsoft’s Tay learning hateful rhetoric and Chai doing things I won’t even mention here. These types of things are completely and entirely unacceptable.
Data privacy
In many instances, people have used data to train AI without consent from the author.
Companies get their data in many ways – even public social media comments aren’t safe. Anything you have written online may have been used to train an AI, which has rather concerning implications on privacy.
Job loss
A large and nearly unstoppable issue with AI is its ability to steal jobs from humans. AI can be used as a tool to improve work too, but there is absolutely no doubt that there are some things AI can be made to do entirely on its own. How big of an issue is this? Only time will tell.
What are the Advantages of AI?
Even though there are some pretty heavy problems to tackle, AI has the power to be highly beneficial too.
AI in the medical field
Artificial intelligence has massive potential in the medical field overall. For example, AI can be trained on images of breast cancer and can then help diagnose a patient potentially earlier and with more accuracy than a human could.
That’s just one example, too. The possibilities are nearly endless – AI in healthcare could be a game changer.
Automating tedious tasks
Artificial intelligence is also great for handling repetitive tasks. This will allow the humans to focus more on the creative aspects of their work, which is always a plus!
Improved public safety
AI is less likely to drive drunk or tired, so self-driving cars and even cars with AI technology integrated in to them will increase general public safety. Studies even show that self-driving cars are safer, and that will only improve as AI advances.
Overall, AI has significant advantages across many different fields. If we are able to conquer some of the previously mentioned ethical issues, it could be a powerful and beneficial tool!
What is the Future of AI?
The future of artificial intelligence is uncertain but very bright. Advancement in recent years has been intense, with many developers creating highly sophisticated language learning models that look pretty close to natural human conversation.
Recent robots like Moxie combine AI and machine to make people feel like they are really talking to another living being. Aibo, Sony’s robotic dog (and my personal favorite) regularly gets treated as if it is a sentient creature due to how powerful and convincing its AI is.
One thing is for certain, what we are seeing right now is only the beginning of what is possible. It is very likely AI will become an integral part of our lives in many ways very soon. From companions to assistants, it will (hopefully) improve our lives as it advances.
In Conclusion
AI, in a nutshell, uses various technology and programming to emulate human thinking in some form. It has the power to completely change the world as we know it, and it is increasingly more important that we address any and all ethical concerns as the technology advances.
Overall though, AI is incredibly and endlessly fascinating. Emulating intelligence with machinery is amazing – who ever thought we would even come this far?
Leave a Reply