Some industry experts believe the term artificial intelligence is too closely linked to popular culture, and this has caused the general public to have improbable expectations about how AI will change the workplace and life in general.
Augmented intelligence. Some researchers and marketers hope the label augmented intelligence, which has a more neutral connotation, will help people understand that most implementations of AI will be weak and simply improve products and services. Examples include automatically surfacing important information in business intelligence reports or highlighting important information in legal filings.
Artificial intelligence. True AI, or artificial general intelligence, is closely associated with the concept of the technological singularity — a future ruled by an artificial superintelligence that far surpasses the human brain’s ability to understand it or how it is shaping our reality. This remains within the realm of science fiction,
though some developers are working on the problem. Many believe that technologies such as quantum computing could play an important role in making AGI a reality and that we should reserve the use of the term AI for this kind of general intelligence.
Ethical use of artificial intelligence
While AI tools present a range of new functionality for businesses, the use of artificial intelligence also raises ethical questions because, for better or worse, an AI system will reinforce what it has already learned.
This can be problematic because machine learning algorithms, which underpin many of the most advanced AI tools, are only as smart as the data they are given in training. Because a human being selects what data is used to train an AI program, the potential for machine learning bias is inherent and must be monitored closely.
Anyone looking to use machine learning as part of real-world, in-production systems needs to factor ethics into their AI training processes and strive to avoid bias. This is especially true when using AI algorithms that are inherently unexplainable in deep learning and generative adversarial netw ork (GAN) applications.
Explainability is a potential stumbling block to using AI in industries that operate under strict regulatory compliance requirements.
For example, financial institutions
In the United States operate under regulations that require them to explain their credit-issuing decisions. When a decision to refuse credit is made by AI programming, however, it can be difficult to explain how the decision was arrived at because the AI tools used to make such decisions operate by teasing out subtle correlations between thousands of variables. When the decision-making process cannot be explained, the program may be referred to as black box AI. These components make up responsible AI use.
Despite potential risks, there are currently few regulations governing the use of AI tools, and where laws do exist, they typically pertain to AI indirectly. For example, as previously mentioned, United States Fair Lending regulations require financial institutions to explain credit decisions to potential customers. This limits the extent to which lenders can use deep learning algorithms, which by their nature are opaque and lack explainability.
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) puts strict limits on how enterprises can use consumer data, which impedes the training and functionality of many consumer-facing AI applications.
In October 2016, the National Science and Technology Council issued a report examining the potential role governmental regulation might play in AI development, but it did not recommend specific legislation be considered.
Crafting laws to regulate AI will not be easy, in part because AI comprises a variety of technologies that companies use for different ends, and partly because regulations can come at the cost of AI progress and development. The rapid evolution of AI technologies is another obstacle to forming meaningful regulation of AI. Technology breakthroughs and novel applications can make existing laws instantly obsolete. For example, existing laws regulating the privacy of conversations and recorded conversations do not cover the challenge posed by voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri that gather but do not distribute conversation — except to the companies’ technology teams which use it to improve machine learning algorithms. And, of course, the laws that governments do manage to craft to regulate AI don’t stop criminals from using the technology with malicious intent.
Cognitive computing and AI
The terms AI and cognitive computing are sometimes used interchangeably, but, generally speaking, the label AI is used in reference to machines that replace human intelligence by simulating how we sense, learn, process and react to information in the environment.
The label cognitive computing is used in reference to products and services that mimic and augment human thought processes.
AI as a service
Because hardware, software and staffing costs for AI can be expensive, many vendors are including AI components in their standard offerings or providing access to artificial intelligence as a service (AIaaS) platforms. AIaaS allows individuals and companies to experiment with AI for various business purposes and sample multiple platforms before making a commitment.
Popular AI cloud offerings include the following:
Amazon AI
IBM Watson Assistant
Microsoft Cognitive Services
Google AI
What Is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with a human mind such as learning and problem-solving.
The ideal characteristic of artificial intelligence is its ability to rationalize and take actions that have the best chance of achieving a specific goal. A subset of artificial intelligence is machine learning (ML), which refers to the concept that computer programs can automatically learn from and adapt to new data without being assisted by humans. Deep learning techniques enable this automatic learning through the absorption of huge amounts of unstructured data such as text, images, or video.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation or approximation of human intelligence in machines. The goals of artificial intelligence include computer-enhanced learning, reasoning, and perception. AI is being used today across different industries from finance to healthcare. Weak AI tends to be simple and single-task oriented, while strong AI carries on tasks that are more complex and human-like. Some critics fear that the extensive use of advanced AI can have a negative effect on society.
Understanding Artificial Intelligence (AI)
When most people hear the term artificial intelligence, the first thing they usually think of is robots. That’s because big-budget films and novels weave stories about human-like machines that wreak havoc on Earth. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Artificial intelligence is based on the principle that human intelligence can be defined in a way that a machine can easily mimic it and execute tasks, from the most simple to those that are even more complex. The goals of artificial intelligence include mimicking human cognitive activity. Researchers and developers in the field are making surprisingly rapid strides in mimicking activities such as learning, reasoning, and perception, to the extent that these can be concretely defined. Some believe that innovators may soon be able to develop systems that exceed the capacity of humans to learn or reason out any subject. But others remain skeptical because all cognitive activity is laced with value judgments that are subject to human experience.
As technology advances, previous benchmarks that defined artificial intelligence become outdated. For example, machines that calculate basic functions or recognize text through optical character recognition are no longer considered to embody artificial intelligence, since this function is now taken for granted as an inherent computer function.
AI is continuously evolving to benefit many different industries. Machines are wired using a cross-disciplinary approach based on mathematics, computer science, linguistics, psychology, and more.
Algorithms often play a very important part in the structure of artificial intelligence, where simple algorithms are used in simple applications, while more complex ones help frame strong artificial intelligence.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence
The applications for artificial intelligence are endless. The technology can be applied to many different sectors and industries. AI is being tested and used in the healthcare industry for dosing drugs and doling out different treatments tailored to specific patients, and for aiding in surgical procedures in the operating room.
Other examples of machines with artificial intelligence include computers that play chess and self-driving cars. Each of these machines must weigh the consequences of any action they take, as each action will impact the end result. In chess, the end result is winning the game. For self-driving cars, the computer system must account for all external data and compute it to act in a way that prevents a collision.
Artificial intelligence also has applications in the financial industry, where it is used to detect and flag activity in banking and finance such as unusual debit card usage and large account deposits—all of which help a bank’s fraud department. Applications for AI are also being used to help streamline and make trading easier. This is done by making supply, demand, and pricing of securities easier to estimate.
Types of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be divided into two different categories: weak and strong. Weak artificial intelligence embodies a system designed to carry out one particular job. Weak AI systems include video games such as the chess example from above and personal assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. You ask the assistant a question, and it answers it for you.
Strong artificial intelligence systems are systems that carry on the tasks considered to be human-like. These tend to be more complex and complicated systems. They are programmed to handle situations in which they may be required to problem solve without having a person intervene. These kinds of systems can be found in applications like self-driving cars or in hospital operating rooms.
Special Considerations
Since its beginning, artificial intelligence has come under scrutiny from scientists and the public alike. One common theme is the idea that machines will become so highly developed that humans will not be able to keep up and they will take off on their own, redesigning themselves at an exponential rate.
Another is that machines can hack into people’s privacy and even be weaponized. Other arguments debate the ethics of artificial intelligence and whether intelligent systems such as robots should be treated with the same rights as humans.
Self-driving cars have been fairly controversial as their machines tend to be designed for the lowest possible risk and the least casualties. If presented with a scenario of colliding with one person or another at the same time, these cars would calculate the option that would cause the least amount of damage.
Another contentious issue many people have with artificial intelligence is how it may affect human employment. With many industries looking to automate certain jobs through the use of intelligent machinery, there is a concern that people would be pushed out of the workforce. Self-driving cars may remove the need for taxis and car-share programs, while manufacturers may easily replace human labor with machines, making people’s skills obsolete.
What Are the 4 Types of AI?
Artificial intelligence can be categorized into one of four types.
Reactive AI uses algorithms to optimize outputs based on a set of inputs. Chess-playing AIs, for example, are
reactive systems that optimize the best strategy to win the game. Reactive AI tends to be fairly static, unable to learn or adapt to novel situations. Thus, it will produce the same output given identical inputs.
Limited memory AI can adapt to past experience or update itself based on new observations or data. Often, the amount of updating is limited (hence the name), and the length of memory is relatively short. Autonomous vehicles, for example, can “read the road” and adapt to novel situations, even “learning” from past experience.
Theory-of-mind AI are fully-adaptive and have an extensive ability to learn and retain past experiences. These types of AI include advanced chat-bots that could pass the Turing Test, fooling a person into believing the AI was a human being. While advanced and impressive, these AI are not self-aware.
Self-aware AI, as the name suggests, become sentient and aware of their own existence. Still in the realm of science fiction, some experts believe that an AI will never become conscious or “alive”.
How Is AI Used Today ?
AI is used extensively across a range of applications today , with varying levels of sophistication. Recommendation algorithms that suggest what you might like next are popular AI implementations, as are chatbots that appear on websites or in the form of smart speakers (e.g., Alexa or Siri). AI is used to make predictions in terms of weather and financial forecasting, to streamline production processes, and to cut down on various forms of redundant cognitive labor (e.g., tax accounting or editing). AI is also used to play games, operate autonomous vehicles, process language, and much, much,