Skim
the following article and match the headings with the paragraphs.Nowadays, there is a lot of buzz about this popular technology,
Artificial Intelligence aka A.I. not only in the field of Computer Science but
every other area that can be thought of, expanding from medical, commerce and
even in agriculture. So, what is artificial intelligence?
1___________
Intelligence is stated as “generalized learning”, learning that enables
the learner to perform better in the situation not previously encountered.
Intelligence covers areas like reasoning, problem-solving, perception and
analyzing, features and relationship between objects and language understanding
with rules and syntax just another human would learn and interpret. Artificial
Intelligence, on the other hand, can be described as a system or a machine that
can be made to stimulate such features of intelligence thus, having the
capability to solve and evaluate problems that were reserved for us, humans
with natural intelligence.
2_______________
Even though the term artificial intelligence was first framed by John
McCarthy when he first held the conference in Dartmouth college in 1955, but
the journey to understand if machines can truly think had begun much before. In
1950, English Mathematician Alan Turing published a paper entitled “Computing
Machinery and Intelligence” which opened doors to the field that would be
called AI. The Turing Test was the first-ever method or experiment to be worked
on for deciding the intellectual capabilities of the machine.
A Turing Test is a conceptual method for determining whether machines
can think like a human. The classic test is a game of imitation. In this game,
an interrogator asks two participants a series of questions. One of the
participants is a machine and the other is human. The interrogator can't see or
hear the participants and has no way of knowing which is which. If the
interrogator is unable to figure out which participant is a machine based on
the responses, the machine passes the Turing Test. A modern-day example could
be the CAPTCHA test that verifies human identity.
3___________
So, how does this work? How can a machine think, analyze and make a
decision like a human brain? If you have ever owned a pet and have noticed that
they understand and respond to certain signs and words, without learning our
language, have you ever thought how can they perceive it and retaliate
accordingly? It’s simple, all they do is pay attention to our words or actions,
remember them and finally, they retain it and create a pattern for the future.
This is what our scientists are trying to achieve from machines in the
field of AI. The idea began with designing interactive and reliable
computer-based decision-making systems that used both facts and heuristics to
solve complex decision-making problems. Eventually, AI so far has accomplished
much more. AI now works by combining large amounts of data with fast, iterative
processing and intelligent algorithms, allowing the software or the machine to
learn automatically from patterns and features in data.
4____________
AI is a vast and diversified field and supports a variety of sub-fields
in its realm. There are different techniques to achieve different goals in
respective sectors, ranging from computer science, psychology, philosophy,
neuroscience, cognitive science, linguistics to economics, probability, logic
and many others.
Let us learn about the major sub-fields that are being encountered by
artificial intelligence in today’s world.
1. Machine Learning (ML)
Often, the terms AI and ML are confused as the same or used
interchangeably. ML is categorized as a subfield of artificial intelligence,
you can think of it as the training phase for the machine that would later be
capable enough to read, understand, infer and finally solve a complex problem
like any other biological human brain could do. Machine Learning is all about
the concept of enhancing traditional programming which requires explicit
instructions with smart algorithms to make machines capable to infer and
analyze the problems and come up with a solution with the help of already fed
facts and data or from past self-learning. Real-world examples of machine
learning include designing various algorithms taking over to deal with issues
which would be hard or would be time-consuming if humans would have put their
mind in it, such as treating cancer, managing cybersecurity and many more.
2. Neural Networks
This is the next most talked about subject when it comes to artificial
intelligence. Understand this as implementing the training phase (discussed
above) into a model, such that we can pass data and facts to an algorithm and
it would give us predictions or solutions, based on what it has gathered and
inferred so far and also, on what it has learned from self-training and
evaluation.
3. Natural Language Processing (NLP)
NLP is defined as the automatic manipulation of natural language, like
speech and text, by software.
The best way to explain is by taking an example of the voice assistants
we use in our daily lives like Siri or Google Assistant. We communicate with
them just as we would do with other humans. Also, there is some software under
development that can analyze the text entered by the user and produce the
expected results.
4. Computer Vision
This subset relies on pattern recognition and the ability of the machine
to analyze digital pictures or videos. Human vision starts at the biological
camera’s “eyes,” which takes one picture of every 200 milliseconds, while
computer vision starts by providing input to the machine.
There are many computer vision applications out in the market. Below are
a few of them:
·
Automatic
inspection, e.g., in manufacturing applications
·
Assisting humans
in identification tasks e.g., a species identification system
·
Detecting events,
e.g., for visual surveillance or people counting
5. Robots
Robots or Humanoid Robots are artificial agents which behave like humans
and possess human thought process - a man-made machine with our intellectual
abilities. This would include the ability to learn just about anything, the
ability to reason, the ability to use language and the ability to formulate
original ideas, without getting bored, distracted or exhausted. Although we
have been seeing robots since childhood in many sci-fi movies there has been an
advancement in science in the 21st century that the robots have come into
existence. Here are some of them for your facts.
Sophia
Developed and created by Hanson robotics and can carry out a wide range
of human actions. It is said that she is capable of making up to fifty facial
expressions and can equally express feelings.
Jia Jia
This robot is invented by the University of Science and Technology,
China. She is capable of making conversations but has limited motion and
stilted speech. She does not have a full range of expressions but the team of
inventors plans to make further developments and infuse learning abilities in
her.
Apart from this, there are many more areas that are being studied in
this field and are being tested. Deep learning, cognitive computing tops the
list and is upcoming with applications of their own.
5___________
As we have observed from the above discussion, the ultimate aim of
artificial intelligence is technological singularity - the point at which
technology takes over humans.
AI takeover is a hypothetical scenario in which artificial intelligence
becomes the dominant form of intelligence on Earth. The good part is that these
automation technologies will take over the tedious, mortifying and dehumanizing
jobs, and leave us free to pursue things we like. But as we know on the flip
side even though this technology is gaining a lot of momentum, deep inside we
are still scared about the tradeoff that it has to offer. Sounds dangerous, but
with so much of exponential intelligence explosion and upcoming super
intelligence, machines will be steering our future. This raises the question:
Should we limit it?
With all these technological advancements we have a great future ahead
and humanity holds the dream of reinventing the world.
Artificial intelligence is going to be one of the most competitive
benefits in the business soon and each organization should have a plan, not to
just apply artificial intelligence, but to continuously think, adapt and
innovate how artificial intelligence can help in the journey.