6 Curious Facts About Artificial Intelligence You Might Want to Know
Sometime ago artificial intelligence was just a fancy buzzword, but nowadays it has solidified its presence in many spheres of human activity. If you have some doubts about it, you can go and check our latest article on how AI is changing the way we live.
But if you have already embraced the technology into your daily routine and Siri has become your best mate, you might want to know some interesting facts about AI.
Here are our picks about artificial intelligence to awaken your curiosity.
1. It’s a she or why artificial intelligence has a female voice
Have you ever wondered why so many virtual assistants are “women?” Look at Siri, Alexa, Cortana or Google Assistant even if the latter does not have a vividly female name. You can easily identify that they all have pleasant and friendly female voices.
There might be several reasons for it. Firstly, it might be a purely “practical” one as the female voice is clearer and has a higher pitch, which makes it easier for users to understand if compared to male voices. Moreover, people find feminine voices more likeable than male ones.
However, another reason for this may be that specialists working on artificial intelligence today are mostly men and only 22% professionals working with artificial intelligence are women and that females used to be secretaries or assistants. But it should be clarified that currently a lot of virtual assistants have their male counterparts like Google Assistant, for example.
2. The idea of AI technology is older than you might think
Alan Turing, an English computer scientist, cryptographer, and mathematician, is considered the father of AI due to the so-called Turing test of machine intelligence introduced in 1950. Nevertheless, the very idea of artificial intelligence appeared long before that. Let’s just recall the Great Robots of Hephaestus from Greek mythology. He created golden servants to assist him and tables that obeyed voice command, which is kind of a home assistant. Also, medieval alchemists believed that the human brain can be placed in an inanimate object.
3. Future of artificial intelligence in art
It was considered that humans are the only ones who can create art. But with the advent of AI this statement is somewhat questionable. The latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have given it the power of creativity. AI can produce masterpieces no less amazing than those of renowned artists. The ability of artificial intelligence to write a screenplay, create music, or paint portraits has become quite remarkable and extraordinary. Just take a look at Edmond de Belamy, the painting created by an algorithm.
Google Deep Dream and The Next Rembrandt are two more examples of artificial intelligence that can produce art indistinguishable from that of a human being.
4. Robots can “heal” themselves
Don’t you agree that it would be so much better if robots could repair themselves and we didn’t spend so much time looking for the right service company? Well, it might not be just a pipe dream. The development of artificial intelligence has enabled robots’ automatic self-repair. It’s not that they understand they are broken, but they can figure out that something is wrong with their performance and easily troubleshoot themselves in case of need.
5. AI startups attract more investors
With all the awesome and useful things artificial intelligence can do right now and with considerable potential it has, it undoubtedly has become a hot market that attracts business people around the globe, willing to invest tons of money in AI hardware and robotic applications.
Investment in AI startups has shown strong growth in recent years. Thus, some companies have already raised hundreds of millions of dollars after only several years in operation.
A lot of governments have recognized the importance of AI and are ready to invest money into its development. For example, China has identified artificial intelligence as their top priority in their strategy and the country expressed a strong intention to become the worldwide leader in AI.
6. To create your product with AI is not as impossible as it seems
A lot of businesses believe that it’s highly expensive and almost impossible to have projects that would utilize artificial intelligence. But many companies can offer you a wide variety of services related to the technology. For instance, numerous startups, such as Biofourmis or Anodot, managed to release successful machine learning solutions that attracted millions of dollars in investment. You can go the same way by integrating AI into a photo app, dating app, or any other application.
To sum up, artificial intelligence has deeply rooted itself into every sphere and it’s highly unlikely that it will ever disappear from our lives. On the contrary, it will become more omnipotent, progressive, and indispensable.
Originally published 18 February, 2020 here.
