The A Word — Why the World is Obsessed with AI (Part I)
Oh the glorious “A” word. The world is buzzing about the idea of artificial intelligence, and understandably so. AI has led to a hyper-speed transformation in various industries…but are we expecting the right things from AI? Or are we living in our own sci-fi fantasy?
What Really Is AI??
First things first. How is AI defined?
The AI field has been transforming and reshaped at hyperspeed by new technological developments, so nailing down a strict definition of the term remains tricky and has sparked debates. But some of the more common ones are as follows:
- The capability of a machine or computer-controlled robot to imitate intelligent human behaviour
- A machine completing tasks involving a certain degree of intelligence which was previously deemed only to be done by humans
- The simulation of human intelligence processes including learning, reasoning, and self-correction by computer systems
But perhaps in broader terms, AI can generally be referred to any computer program that can complete various analyses and use some predefined criteria to make decisions.
Why the Hype?
The hype is real…and understandably so.
AI is transforming the world. The technology has been so intertwined with the modern day-to-day — more than most of you realize.
It might be helping Netflix suggest movies you are likely interested to watch next based on your previous choices. It might be powering self-driving cars, and playing with (and mostly defeating) you on board games online. Or, it might be being your daily task manager on Amazon Alexa, or Apple Siri, through conversational AI systems.
Overhyped: Sci-Fi Fantasy
Those are all very practical use-cases across different industries, but perhaps nothing beats the hype around AI’s capability to closely imitate human intelligence.
Remember humanoid bot Sophia? She was an instant sensation since she made her first appearance. She was showcased across tech conferences, universities, and talk-shows around the globe, stunning the world with her apparent humanity, ability to converse with humans in real-time, and a face that so closely echoes our own with human-like micro-expressions.
Here it was, finally! A robot plucked straight out of sci-fi! The closest yet the world has seen to the idea of “true” artificial intelligence — artificial beings that are close to being alive, with a “living” conscience and personality!
Or…are we really there yet?
There is no doubt that Sophia is a fascinating piece of engineering. But a closer look would reveal to us that most of Sophia’s responses were scripted in advance. The current state of AI research has fallen far behind the tech fantasies portrayed on what we were led to believe by the uncritical media who are happy to fan the flame on their coverage.
The bottom line? There are a lot of exciting discoveries and advancements in this field that is worth our ooohs and ahhhs…However, if we do not treat AI with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of realism, the field of AI may be stuck in this waterlog of pure fantasia forever.
BTS
Behind the scenes, obscured to mainstream consumers, the startup business world is equally enthralled — agog to harness the power of AI to solve a range of problems, which resulted in heaps of breakthroughs and advancements…and yet also a fair amount of flat-out overuse (and misuse) of the term AI.
Head over to Part II, where we discuss how we tell whether companies use real AI.
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