Artificial Intelligence by Grace Sorongon
Many of the technologies we are encountering at present have actually been developed many years before. The big question is, why are these technologies gaining a lot of attention only now? And why were these technologies kept secret for years?
Manoj Poolery, a professor from Columbia University and a self-professed geek, walked us through the history of artificial intelligence (AI) during The Dawn of AI — Adapt or Perish Workshop last November 13, 2018. According to Manoj, AI is a science of making intelligent machines perform the tasks of human beings. The founding fathers of AI are John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Herbert Simon, Allen Newell and David Waltz. They all have been researching and using AI since the1950’s.
On the other hand, Manoj Poolery is a protégé of David Waltz. It is quite an honor to be in close proximity with someone who has actually worked with David Waltz, and who has a lot of knowledge to share about AI. Manoj’s research focuses on predictive analytics, golden ratios and many others, all which are living proof of his brilliant mind.
There are two kinds of AI, namely narrow/weak AI, where application of AI is very task-specific and with a fixed domain; and strong or general AI, where AI performs general intelligent actions and learns from unstructured data. In fact, because of the rapid technology development, today’s AI already performs general human tasks, self-learns, and has a full range of cognitive abilities.
It’s a bit scary at first glance, but in reality, AI has helped evaluate trends and behaviors relative to health care issues, genomics and patient care. It also has a vast and wide application not only in health care, but also in other functions like legal, real estate, manufacturing, and even recruitment. If we know how to leverage its functionalities, there is no reason to be scared about what AI will bring us in the future.
AI is here to complement human intelligence and basically help drive better efficiencies and productivity. At the moment, AI cannot track emotion, empathy and intuition. But it can outshine humans in these areas in the very near future. Soon, they can perform more than the tasks they are doing now because of continuous superior advancement in ideas, increased academic and industry partnerships, and most of all, the data that is being generated from all grounds. Having a lot of data helps in delving deeper into the realm of AI to discover its wide application across many industries.
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About the author:
Grace C. Sorongon was the 2013 President of People Management Association of the Philippines. She has been working with John Clements Consultants for more than three decades now. She is a Senior Vice President and is in charge of various corporate projects, steering these projects towards completion. She also manages the operations of Professional Staffers, a business unit within the John Clements group.
