It all used to be Natural Intelligence. . .
An average human being is considered to possess a constellation of facts, figures, symbols, and memories that stretch widely. Homo Sapiens are indeed repositories of events and their reasoning involves a great deal of instinctive, embodied, unconscious know-how. This natural phenomenon espoused by humans brought about the question of if anything can be granted such intelligence. Can it be mimicked? Philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, and engineers have spent the past centuries to answer this question and the result of their work and effort is AI, yes Artificial Intelligence. Prior to this moment, computers and machines are considered too weak to exhibit intelligence, they are nothing but programs and give nothing that differs from what they are fed ( Garbage in, garbage out). But lately, the narratives are changing and the world is surprised to see machines that can do what humans do( and even do it better).
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence as the name implies is such intelligence not demonstrated by humans that have blood in their veins but by bloodless machines made mostly of plastic and metallic chips. It is such a phenomenon that gives machines and computers the ability to recognize patterns, interpret language and glean insights from complex data. Simply, it allows your computer to contain a mind and think as you do, drifting apace from the prominent culture of GIGO. You won’t be surprised when your computer can perform object recognition, speech recognition, interpret images and do tons of things you can do instinctively. It’s the 21st century!
Applications of AI
You have been around lately, right? You have also been using sophisticated gadgets and smartphones that are truly smart. Perhaps, you are on your phone, busy chatting with your friend and you notice that your phone autocompletes some words for you. Not only that, you can speak to something on your phone expecting a response “ Hello Google, What is AI?”. The above are minute and inconspicuous applications of artificial intelligence in your day-to-day activities. But, does it have a greater application? Read on!
In mid-October 2015, software enabling autopilot cars was released by Tesla. It was designed with eight surround cameras that provide 360 degrees of visibility around the car. Not only that, it has an onboard computer with 40times the computing power of the previous generation. The car is embedded with features that enable it to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane. All these are only done with AI.
Also, the Financial institutions are also using AI systems today to maintain book-keeping, organize operations and carry out all other sorts of things.
And if you are a macOS, ipadOs or iOS user, you probably have used AI today by asking Siri to surf the internet on your behalf. Or if you use windows, Cortana should be by now your virtual assistant, setting reminders and to-do lists on your behalf. What of Amazon Alexa? These are all products of AI. Now, computers and machines can interact with you!
AI has cemented its place as the catalyst to business, technology, and healthcare transformation all over the world, and the path is being paved for it to dominate and change our narrative. But, a question comes to the mind, doesn’t the advent of AI and robotics portend great danger to the human race and working culture? Is AI has beautiful as it is being portrayed?
Without denial, AI has brought such tremendous ease and change in our computing world the pioneers couldn’t have imagined. Among its inexhaustive benefits are:
1. Right Decision Making
Machines are void of emotions and all other things that affect human psychology and impair their decision making, therefore, they are and will be able to take the right step and make a decision in a short span of time.
2. Lack of Mistakes and Errors
These machines are not speculative in nature, they work based on records of data and large algorithms. This will make them less prone to committing mistakes and errors.
3. Efficiency
It is so glaring that the efficiency of our machines with AI has shot up to such an astronomical height, the reasoning is the ability to process data quickly and produce results within split seconds.
Many people have also argued that AI has its own disadvantages and portend numerous dangers, among are: Unemployment and Job issues; exploitation of machines and AI for malicious and nefarious activities among others. But, can we give our final thoughts on AI yet? What is in store from AI for us in the future?
We can only sit back and watch how long it will take until machines supersede human intelligence and perhaps wreak havoc in our world.
