The Basics of Artificial Intelligence
Intelligence is the ability to learn or understand. Our senses absorb data about the world around us and intelligence refers to our ability to apply knowledge to manipulate various obstacles.
However, Artificial intelligence (A.I) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Simply put, A.I deals with ‘the science of making machines work smarter’ (a definition by Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, an A.I startup acquired by Google) and perform more duties that ordinarily would be handled by humans due to complexity.
Types of A.I
Artificial intelligence can be categorized based on strength or the programming required.
Strong A.I vs. Weak A.I: A.I can be categorized as either Weak or Strong.
· Weak A.I, also known as Narrow A.I, is an A.I system that is designed and trained to complete a specific task, (e.g. only facial recognition or only internet searches or only driving a car). Industrial robots and virtual personal assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, use weak A.I.
· Strong A.I, also known as Artificial General Intelligence (A.G.I), describes programming that can replicate the cognitive abilities of the human brain. The long-term goal of A.G.I would be to outperform humans at nearly every cognitive task.
Impact of Artificial Intelligence
Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and Elon Musk (to name a few prominent individuals in science and technology) have expressed concerns via various platforms about the dangers of A.I. Since A.I has the potential to become more intelligent than humans, we have no appropriate way to gauge how it will react. We do not have the luxury of referencing past technological advancements because quite simply we have never created anything with the ability to outsmart us. It is generally accepted that humans now control the planet, not because we are the strongest, fastest or biggest, but because we are the smartest. If that changes, how then do we lay claim to being in control?
The unplanned experiment in working from home which we are all engaged in as a result of the global pandemic, COVID-19 will probably result in a blended approach to office life in the future. With respect to workspaces, employers are starting to wrap their heads around the fact that they could face a crisis of trust as we emerge from the pandemic. Companies might have to adopt different approaches along with providing incentives in some cases to entice employees back to their office environs. For example, Facebook has told its staff they can work from wherever they want, but their salary will be adjusted downwards if they leave the Bay Area. Google has simply offered every employee $1,000 to make their home offices more effective.
A.I and machine learning are also playing an important role in understanding and combating the COVID-19 crisis. Machine learning technology enables computers to mimic human intelligence and ingest large volumes of data to quickly identify patterns and insights.
Every organization regardless of their size and structure is finding innovative ways to operate effectively and to meet the needs of their customers and employees as social distancing and quarantine measures remain in place. Machine learning technology is playing an important role in enabling that shift by providing the tools to support remote communication, enable telemedicine, and protect food security. The way we work is certainly being changed by lessons learned during the pandemic, and by the deployment of A.I throughout the economy.
Benefits of A.I in Social Media
Social media is a part of our day-to-day life that can’t be ignored. Most of us are addicted to many social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and it is considered odd not to be connected. A.I is gradually taking over user experience on social platforms, designing a custom fitted experience for users in the process. Every time you open Facebook or Instagram, there are some new ads for you. All these ads relate to what you search for online. Spend a few more minutes and you suddenly realize that you have been browsing through closely related content that match your preferences. This is not restricted to only Facebook and Instagram of course, but almost every social media platform.
Artificial intelligence has seen marketers increase their revenue streams by utilizing social media effectively, while reducing the costs of their expenditure on the traditional means of advertising products and services. This is due to A.I excelling at extracting insights and patterns from large sets of data, including finding signals from social media platforms, advertising data, audience data, and social media performance data.
Technological advancement has led to a variety of A.I powered tools being deployed in order to target the right audience on social media:
- Create social media posts.
- Figure out what posts work best.
- Measure brand and trends across social platforms.
- Write social ads.
- Decrease management time and costs across platforms.
How Is A.I Used in Social Media?
A.I is a key component of the popular social networks you use every single day.
· Facebook uses advanced machine learning to do everything from serve you content to recognize your face in photos to target users with advertising.
· Instagram (owned by Facebook) uses A.I to identify visuals.
· Snapchat leverages the power of computer vision, an A.I technology, to track your features and overlay filters that move with your face in real-time.
· LinkedIn uses A.I to offer job recommendations, suggest people you might like to connect with, and serve you specific posts in your feed.
A.I Programming
A.I programming focuses on three cognitive skills.
· Learning, which is the aspect of A.I programming that focuses on acquiring data and creating rules for how to turn the data into actionable information,
· Reasoning, which is the aspect of A.I programming that focuses on choosing the right algorithm to reach a desired outcome, and
· Self-correction, which is aspect of A.I programming that is designed to continually fine-tune algorithms and ensure they provide the most accurate results possible.
REFERENCES
· https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/blog/what-is-artificial-intelligence-for-social-media
· https://searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com/definition/AI-Artificial-Intelligence
· https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/?cn-reloaded=1
· https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/how-ai-and-machine-learning-are-helping-to-fight-covid-19/
· https://thenextscoop.com/effect-of-artificial-intelligence-on-social-media/
· https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/blog/what-is-artificial-intelligence-for-social-media
