What is Artificial Intelligence and why should I care?
A high-level overview of AI and why it’s making headlines today
There is a lot of noise around Artificial Intelligence (AI).
You’ve likely seen your fair share of media headlines ranging from doom and gloom about robots taking all of the jobs to AI solving all of the world’s problems. Or the polarizing views of prominent tech leaders.
Despite all the hype, you may be asking yourself: What exactly is Artificial Intelligence and why is it happening now?
Let us explain…
AI is a field of study within Computer Science
At a high level, AI is the broader concept of machines being able to carry out tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as understanding language, recognizing objects and sounds, and problem solving. And by machines, we don’t just mean physical robots but also the software running on your computers, phones and connected home devices, for example.
Artificial intelligence is an all encompassing term to describe a number of subfields or techniques data scientists and engineers are using to make machines smarter, such as:
- Machine learning
- Deep learning
- Natural language processing
- Computer vision
Despite the hype, AI isn’t new
The term AI has been around for over 60 years, first appearing in a 1955 research paper by John McCarthy.
While computer scientists have been exploring artificial intelligence for over half a century, it’s only in the past few years that it’s been making headlines and attracting a significant amount of capital (and by significant, we’re talking billions).
So, what changed?
Really, it’s a convergence of a number of things:
- Cloud computing happened. Rather than having data stored on premise, which was not only difficult to access but also costly, we now have data stored on the cloud at a fraction of the cost.
- The Internet happened. We have access to a wealth of information as well as knowledge of how people search for information and ask questions.
- Huge advances in hardware happened. Algorithms that used to require a super computer can now run on your mobile phone.
- Advances in the field happened. The smart people studying and working in AI have continued to experiment, learn and drive it forward.
Above all, as the world has steadily become more connected, we are creating a huge amount of data which is allowing AI advancements to flourish. Consider this: 90% of all data today was created in the last two years.
Do we have artificial intelligence today?
If we’re defining artificial intelligence as human-level intelligence — the ability to perform ANY intellectual task that a human could by abstracting concepts from limited experience and transferring knowledge between domains — then we don’t have artificial intelligence, or what those working in the field call Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
What we do have now is weak or narrow AI — artificial intelligence that is focused but competent in one narrow task.
So while we’ve seen impressive results…
- Tesla creating autonomous cars
- AlphaGo beating the world Go champion
- Your friends’ faces detected in your Facebook photos
These all operate within a defined space.
Today, AI models depend on very specific data about the task they are trying to solve. The machine cannot immediately abstract concepts from one area and apply it to the other — the system that drives the Tesla can’t also play Go.
Clearly, humans also need to learn the rules before they can drive a car or play Go. The difference is cognitively, people are able to apply learnings from different parts of their life to new tasks. AI algorithms and models haven’t been invented yet to capture these notions.
As Yann LeCun, Facebook’s director of AI research, explained:
Most of human and animal learning is unsupervised learning. If intelligence was a cake, unsupervised learning would be the cake, supervised learning would be the icing on the cake, and reinforcement learning would be the cherry on the cake. We know how to make the icing and the cherry, but we don’t know how to make the cake. We need to solve the unsupervised learning problem before we can even think of getting to true AI.
Will we eventually have Artificial General Intelligence? In theory, yes. But we’re likely a few decades away from achieving it.
So, why do I need to care about AI now?
The application of narrow AI methods has already changed the way we work, the way we consume media, the way we drive, even the driving routes we take (thanks Waze!). It’s disrupting businesses and industries where early adopters are applying these techniques.
Just as the advent of the Internet changed everything about the way people do business and interact with the world, we see AI technologies having a similar effect. You certainly don’t want to be left behind in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
Want to find out how you can start using AI in your business? Our robots can help….and by robots, we mean the talented data science experts at Robots and Pencils. 🤖 👋
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