Your 360˚ Guide to Artificial Intelligence

From the traditional definition of Artificial Intelligence that referred to the machine executing tasks and solving problems to a much broader phenomenon today, AI has given rise to a plethora of possibilities that were only imaginable in Sci-Fi flicks a few decades back. In this blog, we are going to shed light on the development of its different types, the way it’s reshaping our lives in unimaginable ways and explore the truth about what Artificial Intelligence really means for you:

Different Types of AI

There are three major categories of Artificial Intelligence which include the following:

• Artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) – Also known as weak AI, Artificial narrow intelligence specializes in only one area. As mentioned above, the case of IBM’s Deep Blue program vs chess master Garry Kasparov is a good illustration. Here, the AI would only play chess and it would not participate in other tasks. Whatever it does, it makes sure it’s done extremely well.

• Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – Also known as Strong AI, it holds the ability to think like humans. Moreover, it can possibly become self-aware of itself at some point in time. Unfortunately, AGI is still in its development phase. In short, it would be able to do everything as easily you can.

• Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) – According to Nick Bostrom, Oxford philosopher, and renowned AI thinker, superintelligence is “an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills.” It is a hypothetical agent that has the potential to surpass the intelligence of even the most brilliant minds. Surprisingly, AI being the hot topic has also invited some terms such as “Immortality” and “extinction”.

AI Apps, Your Best Digital Partner

There are various AI apps that are developed to assist you in your daily task. If you want to locate a nearby restaurant, Marsbot will help you find one by learning about the types of place you like to visit and text you accordingly. Another phenomenal example can include Alexa and Quartz. The former is a voice control personality that provides help in setting up different Alexa-enabled devices and gives way to the customization of your voice control experience with Alexa personality, whereas the latter is a news app that can utilized for learning about latest headlines.

Moreover, the businesses are already preparing for AI-driven conversational interfaces, and time is not far when these will become the standard for interacting with the technology in the workplace as well. Pana’s travel agents have already embraced AI assistants simultaneously. Furthermore, there are various firms investing heavily in the field such as Baidu. The Chinese search engine company has been investing in developing the AI technologies as the figure of voice interactions has increased three times across all products since the beginning of 2015. Likewise, around 20% of queries of Android devices and Google’s mobile app are voice searches.

What it holds for marketers?

As AI is getting bigger and sophisticated, marketers need to embrace new technologies in order to remain competitive in the long run. One of such examples is AI journalism. Associated Press, in 2015, revealed that it has been making use of advanced AI algorithms for the production of original and custom newsletter. It provides a beneficial opportunity for the marketers because of its inexpensiveness and scalability. Furthermore, while preparing for the AI wave, it is necessary to keep your eye on the present ground as it will pay more with the highest rate of return.

Conclusion

As we increasingly hand over our decisions to intelligent algorithms, there will possibly be some very humanly consequences. They will even tend to expose our own flawed laws, raise new ethical questions and potentially bring changes in our relationship with each other. But ultimately, it is us who need to keep in mind that we are giving rise to a new form of intelligence, that is different from our own, and we need to understand how to build a safer future with it.

AI Journey

1940s – 50s

• Neurologist Grey Walter came up with his spectacular work by building one of the electronic robots, namely Elmer and Elsie.

• This was followed by Alan Turing coming up with an experiment known as Turing Test, which was seen as an attempt to set a standard for machines to be called ‘intelligent’.

1950s – 60s

• Isaac Asimov was one of the several fiction writers who came up with the idea of machine learning and its future. Some of his remarkable works include I Robot and Three Law of Robotics.

• Finally, the term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined by John McCarthy, a young computer Scientist, at the Dartmouth University in 1956.

• Science Fiction gives way to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ which gave an imaginable picture of the AI and human civilization

1980-90s

• After the long AI winter during the 70s, the Artificial Intelligence again started gaining traction as business leaders started to realize its commercial value.

• Rodney Brooks, a Roboticist, inspired by the neuroscience, makes his way towards biological principles of movement and reasoning to solve the difficulties in AI

• IBM shook the world when its supercomputer Deep Blue defeated the reigning chess champion, Garry Kasparov

2000s

• Rodney Brook’s iRobot introduced the world’s first commercially successfully robot for house purposes, called Roomba

• The 21^st century saw the arrival of AI in defense sector with the introduction of autonomous robots like BigDog and PackBot. The former was never seen on active service however the latter was deployed in over 2000 numbers in Afghanistan and Iraq due to its sniffing capabilities.

• Google’s speech recognition feature made its debut in 2008 in Apple’s iPhone

• In 2011, IBM again took the world by storm when its supercomputer Watson won the US quiz show Jeopardy against two of the former winners Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings.

• Google and Tesla are leading the way in introducing the self-driving cars in coming years