Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction
As humans, it is our constant endeavour to continually improve. Since the beginning of mankind as we know it, we have always developed ways to solve problems faster and make our work easier. From carving tools out of stone and wood, and discovering fire to developing machines, super computers and automating processes, we have come a long way.
The concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one such incredible invention. AI is ground-breaking because it enables human capabilities such as communication, perception, understanding, reasoning and planning. The simulation of these human abilities creates new opportunities in most business sectors and consumer applications.
The Beginning
The world was familiarized with the concept of artificially intelligent robots by science fiction in the early 20th century. Characters like the Tin man from Wizard of Oz and the humanoid robot that impersonated Maria in Metropolis got scientists and mathematicians to think about the development and applications of this technology. Alan Turing, a British polymath who explored the mathematical possibility of AI suggested that, when humans use available information as well as reason to solve problems and make decisions, machines could do the same.
Decades of research and the availability of substantial computing power in the 1980s propelled the implementation of AI in the form of a decision-making program called expert systems. However, from then until the late 1990s, there was no significant development in the field of AI. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess playing computer program defeated reigning world chess champion and grand master Gary Kasparov, giving a much- needed impetus to artificially intelligent decision-making. In the same year, progress was made in the direction of spoken language interpretation by speech recognition software, which was developed by Dragon Systems and implemented on Windows. Parallelly, Cynthia Breazeal developed a robot called Kismet, which could recognize and display human emotions.
AI was not commercially used until the 2010s, because the technology was nascent, and until then it was primarily a subject of research. In just a decade, AI became embedded into the everyday life of humans. Beginning with the launch of Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360, the device that tracked human body movement while gaming, AI saw a lot of developments in the fields of natural language processing, virtual assistants, humanoid robots and other industries.
The world of AI
The enhancement of technology and digitalisation has given rise to massive amounts of data that require processing, and AI finds its application here. Industries such as technology, banking, marketing, and entertainment are already reaping the benefits of AI. The rise of cloud computing resources and consumer demand for widespread access to services such as speech recognition and navigation support have fueled the AI revolution. AI applications in the domains of transport and healthcare are also developing fast.
The field of AI is moving towards building intelligent systems that can collaborate effectively with people, and that are more generally human-aware. The effective use of AI is aimed at improving the productivity of machines, thus reducing the workload of humans. The purpose of machines is to aid and enhance human life, and the developments in the field of AI are very promising. However, AI should be developed and applied such that it prioritizes human safety and privacy. This will increase the acceptance of AI-driven technologies in society and enable it to become a universally used tool in all aspects of life.
References:
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/history-artificial-intelligence/
https://ai100.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj9861/f/ai_100_report_0831fnl.pdf
